L's Protector
by Ice Angel262
Summary: This is not a yaoi fanfic...for once! This is a story I came up with to save L from dieing! This will be an LxOC. Take this as a spoiler warning. If you have not finished the series I suggest you don't read this! Happy reading unyan!
1. Protector

Ice Angel262 here! I'm back everybody! I finally installed word into my ne~w laptop! *nodnod* This is not to forewarn you of Lemons or any Yaoi action. Well…I'm sure I can put a little bit of yaoi action in here. This is going to be a continuous story! Please read it even though it doesn't have sexual content! Arigato nya!

___

I am a Protector. I am trusted with everything and I am vital to the most important person in the world. There aren't many Protectors around, mind you. It's not a famous job and nobody except the children of Wammy's knows about this job. That's not to say either that every child of Wammy's House has a Protector.

There are some though, who need Protectors. Watari is very good at finding a Protector for those that need one. My job description, is to let nothing kill my genius. There are some Wammy's children who will do almost anything for justice and have no regard for their own lives. This will lead to reckless acts and their own death. I keep that from happening at all costs. Some people are just too important to let die.

Who do I belong to? The most important person alive, L. I know every single detail about L. I can even think like him sometimes. L has no regard for his own life. I've had to keep him from making a decision that would lead to his death only once. During the BB case. But that is another story!

My name is Aceline Spade. Aceline is French and the name means noble at birth. It's actually quite fitting. Watari gave it to me. I am seventeen years old, L was a little skeptical at first of whether I'd be useful and whether he needed me at all. But I can be very persuasive, and not in that way you sick freak! I'm just a very likable person.

Well, my monologue has gone on for far too long. I believe it is time for the main event! For the reason you are all here!

___

"Aceline," L said, he didn't even look at me, he kept his eyes focused on the monitor, speed reading everything about the Kira case. "I'm going to take this case. Please pack your things."

"My things are always packed L," I replied, "Not like I ever have the chance to unpack."

Watari came in with sweets. Yum, cheesecake.

"Where is this case?" Watari asked in his old man voice, I took a bite into my cake. Soo good!

"Japan," L said coolly, he was looking at me, looking for a reaction.

"Hm, I'm fluent in Japanese." I looked right back, for what reason would I react? I was born there, I didn't live there long.

"You are fluent in as many languages as L, Aceline." Watari told me.

I smiled at him, I loved the old guy! "I should be shouldn't I? I've been with him since I was five. And if you're going to travel with L then you must be able to keep up." Watari nodded.

L was filling a cup with sugar. "Would you take care of everything Watari?" He asked.

"Of course," He smiled and went to do whatever it was that he did when we traveled.

"Thank you," L shoveled more sugar into the cup.

"Would you like some tea with that sugar?" I asked sarcastically.

L frowned at his cup. "It's not that much, Aceline."

I moved in my seat to sit like him. It was actually fun if you tried it. I lay my head on my folded arms. "So, what's so interesting about this new case?"

"This person is killing criminals with cardiac arrest."

"Only one person? And aren't heart attacks killing everybody in the world?"

"There are too many criminals being killed by heart attacks for it to be a mere coincidence. And, yes, I believe it is a single person. The map of the murders does not suggest that more than one person is involved."

I nodded and took another piece of cake. L was on his third, he sure ate fast…

"So," I said, "You're going to Japan because you think the killer is there?"

"The killings are worldwide, but yes, I believe the killer is there."

"Wonder how old he is?"

"Are you sure it is a 'he', Aceline?"

"I can see the charts. You left your monitor on and running. The map appears to lean more towards a male. Seeing as the criminals being killed are more powerful and masculine, it would seem that Kira has a superiority complex."

"I thought that as well." And he turned to pull up another window. This one was looking at different hotels.

"I like the one on the right. It says it has an indoor pool." I pointed.

L looked over at me with those raccoon ringed eyes. "Aceline, you swim?"

I gave him a look. You know the one, the kind that only a woman can give. "L! I learned with you!"

He smiled, "Oh yes, I remember. You were terrible at it."

I rolled my eyes. "You were great at it."

"Yes I know." He was so immature. I was terrible at it at first, yes, but I was just as good as him now. Although he didn't know that.

"Arrogant brat."

"Do you have a swimming suit?"

"Yes, a very lovely bikini. It's black with red pinstripes."

He looked thoughtful. I threw cake at him. "Pervert!"

He wiped the cake from his face and licked it from his fingers. "I'll have to change my shirt."

"Wash your hair while you're at it! When was the last time you bathed?"

"Hm, last Wednesday." He said.

I gave him that look again. I walked over and dumped him out of his chair. He fell on his hands and knees. I pointed to the bathroom. "Now!"

He looked up at me and smiled. "You're so demanding. Like a mother." That struck my heart strings a little bit.

"Don't make me ground you!" I shoved him with my foot and then leaned over the chair. I could have easily sat in it but, eh, whatever. I clicked on the most expensive hotel in the Kanto Region. It had a very large pool and a nice hot tub. It also had a spa and a hot springs. Fancy. It was nice to be able to spend a fortune all the time.

L took forever to shower! He'd probably used all the hot water. When he finally came out he still had soap in his hair. I had to drag him back in and put him under the cold water to rinse his hair out. Sometimes I felt more like his nanny than his Protector. I even had to dry his hair!

___

The plane ride was sooo very long! No matter how comfortable and fast a private jet was it could never make up for the boredom of being on a plane for twenty-five hours. I thought I'd go insane! I was pacing everywhere and constantly looking for something to do. Video games helped. L just sat on his laptop solving little mysteries and cases. Well, they were little to him. Just things he did to pass the time. Watari was back and forth getting sweets and the plane driver...there wasn't one, it was on autopilot.

We finally made it to Japan. Tokyo was where we decided to stay, that was where the most hotels were. We'd have a different hotel every four days or so.

"May I take your bags?" A bus boy said to me in slow English.

"Yes, please take them to the top floor. All of these." I told him in Japanese. He looked relieved not to have to talk in English.

"Yes, I will do that right away miss." He said in his native tongue. I gave him a five thousand yen (50$) tip, there were so many bags.

L had been hustled in by Watari, wearing that silly mask of his as they went. I went in separately. No one could think we were together. I had the room right next to his. Watari had installed bugs in L's room and a monitor for it in mine so I could watch over him and make sure he didn't make any deadly decisions.

It could get so boring! I usually just transferred the bug signals to my mobile phone so I could go around and sight see. I'm a fantastic multitasker. As L began the Kira case and started work with the Japanese police force, all boring and routine things, I went out into the town. I could see and hear everything on my mobile phone. I watched it almost the whole time. When he was talking I just held it to my ear as I looked around in the shops.

There were so many things in Tokyo! I absolutely loved all of the food. So many strange sweets! Like the plum candies and the little cookies. I was mainly doing a sort of surveillance though. Know your surroundings. I ended up getting lost near a school. I needed to get back to the shopping district. I found, well, he looked like a college student actually. He had brown hair and his face looked sort of emotionless, but not in the unfriendly type of way. He seemed kind of bored… There was a sort of, well, presence to him.

"Excuse me!" I asked. He looked at me, seeming surprised at the language coming from my mouth. We're in Japan! Did he expect French?

"Yes?" He asked, wow, handsome voice!

"Hi! I'm Smith Alice! Could you maybe help me?" I asked sweetly. He got a look in his eyes, sort of like, a quizzical look but it was gone almost instantly. It was a look like he was wondering at a reaction or something.

"Ah, I'm Yagami Light. Are you a foreigner? Are you lost?" He seemed nice actually. Sort of kind, but there was something that was just…wrong. I had very sharp intuition so I practiced caution.

"Yes to both!" I smiled, "I need to get back to my hotel! Could you tell me the direction the hotels are in?"

He smiled, "Yes," He pointed, "They're over there. But wouldn't you rather know exactly where it is?"

I shook my head, "No, that's enough, thank you very much." I bowed and waved to him over my shoulder. Now I knew which direction it was in. But this guy seemed so odd! I felt him looking at me as I walked. I turned a corner in the direction he said. But I went back to watch him. I couldn't hear him but from this angle I could see his mouth moving, no cell phone, no earpiece. He seemed sane but was he talking to himself? He took an apple out of his bag and tossed it into the air next to him, and it stayed there!! Oh. My. God!

I kept looking but my heart had accelerated. Wah! The apple was being eaten! Core and all! I turned and left, practically running back to the hotel.

____

When I was back in my room I reconnected the monitor. Silly little insomniac. I took out a sketch pad and drew every motion the apple had taken for the first bite. Photographic memory was very, very good. From the look of the apple during that bite whatever had eaten it had a huge mouth and very sharp teeth. I could only get the mouth though; apparently it was about ten feet tall! Tsh! That's so freaky! But I know to trust my eyes, I have the best eyesight in the world!

This was something to think about. It didn't seem relevant to the case so I didn't mention it to L. I had a feeling this information would be useful later. But there was only one thing that could be certain.

This was big. Maybe even too big for L.

____

The case was starting to kick off. L had publicly challenged Kira but it was still very slow. I think he liked the challenge though. Even on a case as big as this he would have at least had a suspect by now. He's starting to suspect a college student. That narrowed it down a bit. The case was normal and he was with Watari. That meant I got free time.

I put on a pretty black bikini with red lace. The hotel we were currently in had a pool on every floor with glass for the bottom. The suit looked really good with my long, waist length, jet black hair. I looked at my contacts, wondering whether or not to put them on. I almost always wore them because of my strange eye color. Dark purple blossomed from my pupils and faded into black around the edges. I didn't need to be noticed and that was definitely something noticeable. I usually wore brown colored eye contacts. I stared at my eyes in the mirror. I really liked them, they were pretty. No one else was on this floor. I'd be alone in the pool. I decided not to wear the ugly things. I tied my long hair into twin tails and left for the pool.

I dove in as soon as I got there. Of course I shrieked because of the cold. Japanese pools are a bit cooler than American pools. After that I just swam around. There wasn't really much else I could do. I wanted to spend time with L but he was busy with the police force. I hated being alone so often. I sometimes wished Watari would spend more time with me. I got kind of jealous sometimes, Watari spent more time with L than me. But he kind of needed Watari more. Still, I got a little jealous sometimes. L was never alone and I almost always was. I couldn't help a little self pity could I? Okay, I probably could but I felt I was entitled to some. I was just floating on my back, swishing around the pool.

"Aceline?"

I jumped, startled. I looked for the voice. "Watari! You have to call me Alice outside of the hotel room."

Watari smiled in that kind way he did. "Ah, I'm sorry. But L has something he needs to tell you."

"Yes! I'm coming." I swam to the edge of the pool and lifted myself out. I toweled off and put on a yukata and followed Watari back to the rooms.

"L?" I came in the door.

"I'm expecting company." He said.

My legs were weak. I slumped into the nearest chair.

"What?!" I breathed.

He looked like he always did. Calm and collected. Chewing on some candy, back hunched, knees up to his chin, just like always.

"They'll be here later tonight." He spoke in that mellow voice, slightly muffled because of whatever he was eating.

"Do you remember all of the Capoeira I taught you?" I said, slightly angered now. Not at L, at Kira. It was Kira's fault L had to show himself, had to put his self in danger.

"Of course." L gave me a slight look of surprise. How could I question his abilities? It was written on his face.

"Don't get too damn cocky!" I said as I left the room. I couldn't be sure, but I think I heard him call my name as I left.

This was it, this was the ultimate case. I felt it coming. L was going to die.


	2. Defender

**Ice Angel262 here! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Thank you for reading thus far!**

I stewed in my hotel room. I looked at the monitor as L introduced himself for the third time in his life. As his Protector I was present for all three. The last two were under pseudonyms of course.

I watched the proceeds carefully. L knew enough self defense techniques to defend his self and they'd not been carrying guns. L explained his theories to the police men and also explained his plan of action. It was so terribly clever. He figured Kira needed a name and a face to kill. He still had no clue how he did it or who he was. But he had suspects. The families of all of the policemen with access to the most top secret files. I hadn't looked at them, I don't really care about this stuff. But I knew he was all ready investigating using the FBI.

I watched on through the entire meeting. I hated Kira for putting L in a situation like this. When L figured out whom it was I would beat him to a pulp! When the detectives left I went in to L's room. I wanted to be near him.

"Aceline," L looked up at me, I'd changed from the yukata into a comfortable black sweater and loose-ish jeans. "Have you calmed down?"

"Shut up, you fool." I sat down on the sofa next to Watari. He had just rolled in platters of sweets so L and I could make candy shish kabobs. I leaned against the man who'd raised L and me and he hugged me. "I can't believe this! I thought you were smart enough to take on the Kira case!"

Something changed in L. He was miffed now.

"It is a very challenging case. Rest assured I will win in the end. Justice will prevail and Kira will be sentenced to death." His voice had a peak of annoyance in it.

"Good luck sentencing someone you can't find!" I told him.

"I've narrowed it down to one suspect." L said a hint of humor in his voice.

"Let me see!" I demanded.

He smiled and handed me a file.

I opened it up and staring back at me was that handsome Japanese boy with the floating apple. I contained my emotions. Held my face into a careful mask.

"Who's he?" I said, flipping through the file without reading it.

"That is Yagami Light. He is the police chief's son. He is a straight A student and is heading for many great colleges. A genius. He would have some sort of access to the top priority files on the Kira case. I am sixty-two percent sure he is Kira." L explained.

"He's kind of cute." I pointed out.

"Hm, I suppose." L's posture became rigid.

"Do you think I could go on a date with him?" I asked, teasing now.

"Absolutely not!" L reprimanded, holding his hand out for the file.

I gave it to him, smacking it against his hand as I did.

"L, if you really think that Light is Kira," Watari began, "Then maybe if Aceline went on a date with him she could observe him closer. She has wonderful intuition."

L got a stubborn expression on his face. "No," he said firmly.

"I could help with the investigation, L!" I said, "Why the hell not?!"

Watari gave me a disapproving look and I gave him a sheepish look.

L looked at me firmly. "I don't need help with this, Aceline, and I won't have you in danger. If he is Kira he may kill you if he finds out that you're spying on him."

"Oh, come on!" Right here, most people would jump up and start pacing. When L and I fought things were very still. I pressed closer to Watari though, and L leaned forward a bit more in his chair. "I'm not stupid!"

"I know!" L said in a voice as close to yelling as I've ever heard. "I know you are very, very smart, Aceline. But I cannot put you in harm's way like that. You will have no contact with Yagami Light."

"I'm the Protector here, L." I reminded him. He didn't really like to be reminded of the only reason why I was in this room. Of the only reason we'd ever met. This was my job. That was it.

"I'm aware of that." L turned back to his laptop, eating a doughnut off of his shish kabob. He began pecking furiously at keys, trying to solve this case. "If you'll excuse me, I'm behind on some things."

I got up from Watari's arms. Fatherly love would not calm either of us down. I went back to my room and flopped down onto the bed.

I was worried about L. I was scared about the situation. Kira had made L show himself to people he could not possibly completely trust, even if they were good people. Kira was driving L into a corner and that was not right. Kira was evil. L was justice. L would win, he must win, he had to win. I put my face in my pillow. I did not cry. I never cried. There was no reason for it.

I had to find a way to keep L safe.

*^*%*^*

I woke up early the next morning. When I looked at the monitor I saw L talking through a synthetic voice changer to the head of FBI. Investigations were going well enough. I got up and showered and dressed. I didn't have much to do today. I'd all ready seen enough sites and I didn't want to go swimming. I was tired of being mad at L already. I forgave him.

I left my room and went into L's. I leaned against the arm of his spinning chair while he typed and researched and made graphs and other such things to help him solve the case.

"I know," he said before I'd said a word.

I just nodded.

Normally you would hug someone right now. After all, you've just apologized. Nobody touched L. Not even Watari touched L anymore. He was terribly worried about germs but he had no good hygene. Such an odd person. I dragged my finger in circles across the arm of the chair.

"Hurry up and catch him, L." I said quietly. "Kira is a monster. He cannot get away with it."

L gave me an odd look as he sipped his sugary coffee. "I will bring Kira to justice."

*^*%*^*

A week after the first meeting with the Japanese Police all of the FBI agents in Japan were killed. There were only 12. But they had all died.

L was getting more suspicious every day that Yagami Light was Kira. I was growing to hate him because I too believed he was Kira. Especially since L thought so too.

The police force was constantly over at our hotels now. I had no chances to talk to L. I could only watch and Watari came into my room once in a while to feed me. I went for a lot of walks using headphones to listen to the conversations. If L decided to do something deadly to police would most assuredly protest. I was certain of that now. They would do a pretty good job at keeping him alive.

I never saw Light again. It was probably better that I didn't do anything. I don't think I'd have been able to handle myself if I were near him with these suspicions.

*^*%*^*

L went to school to confront Yagami Light. I followed them disguised as a student. I stayed far away, social and forgettable to everyone. It was strange to see L in a school environment. I almost laughed. Especially when he put that silly mask on and tried to eat his sucker at the same time!

It did not take long for L to invite him to the Kira case. Light was a genius. He wanted a fake name too. He chose Light Asashi. What a strange person. Being able to watch him every day there was nothing suspicious about him. This was killing me! He was so collected! How the hell could he do that? If he'd been an orphan he'd have been at Wammy's House!

L had made a giant building. Setting up a slightly more permanent residence in Japan. We would stay here as long as he was working on the Kira case. The officers had all moved in, there were only five or six, I didn't really care. I had a floor entirely to myself, two floors above where everyone was living. Days were long, I couldn't leave the building. Thank god for the balconies on my floor! I'd surely have died without them! I was well equipped to live there. Plenty of fresh food sent up by a small electric elevator every day. Watari never came to see me because he had to stay with L the entire time.

I got very lonely on my own. I watched, and I watched. Nothing interesting happened. The Kira case was at a standstill.

Then there was the second Kira. This Kira caused quite a stir with Sakura Television. They could kill by only looking at a face and they didn't just kill criminals. This person was killing everyone who tried to interfere with the broadcast of the video, to Kira from second Kira. Light's eyes looked a little peaked at this but there was no surety of what that meant because L's did too. Interested. That's what it was.

L decided the best thing to do would be to make a video that was supposed to be from Kira to the second Kira. And there were a few more videos from the second Kira afterwards. Mentioning things like death gods and eyes of a death god. L flipped out! It was kinda funny actually…

Suspicious enough though, the videos stopped. And that was just before the time when Light got a girl friend who was a superstar called Misa-Misa. Misa was a complete dead head. L met her when he went to Light's school. He was all ready 88% sure Misa was the second Kira by then. This chick…was brainless! She had cute style though.

L had found evidence on the tapes linking them to Misa and so he…well…I couldn't explain it any other way then to say that he kidnapped her. No one on the team was exactly a police man any more so that's what I called it.

I had a suspicion about L. I began to think he had certain fetishes, like, bondage. Because I swear to whatever god you believe in that girl was tied up kinkier than _hell_! She was shackled to this chair stand thing that looked sort of like those things you cart boxes around on. She was in hardly any clothing and her bonds looked like a thong around her waist. She had a weird metal sort of blind fold on. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't say anything. Light seemed a little edgy, but so did everyone else! Damn him! L was obviously getting more and more annoyed by not being able to solve the Kira case.

Light did something really weird just days after Misa's capture. He asked to be locked away because he thought he might be a sleep-serial-killer. Puh_-lease_! But L did oblige. Light was locked up to check and see if he was Kira. If the killings didn't stop he would not be Kira. If they did he got executed. L seemed a little bit happy to lock him up to me. The other's wouldn't notice but he had a certain glee. Sadistic freak…

The killings stopped for a long time. Maybe one or two weeks. Light's dad asked to be locked up so he didn't do anything drastic. He couldn't handle watching his genius straight A son locked up! Poor papa! But L obliged in that too.

The killings finally started again. L still wouldn't let Light out. He didn't even tell him they'd stopped. After about forty days or so Misa began asking for death. It seemed as if she were talking to herself when she said, "I give it up!" What the hell was that supposed to mean? After that she passed out. When she woke up she was calling everyone stalkers and criticizing her 'stalkers' way of making money. Saying they wouldn't make much with only a video of her sitting there. … How brain-dead was she?! First of all everyone kept telling her they were cops and that she wasn't kidnapped. Second of all if she really thinks she's been kidnapped why the hell is she criticizing the napper's tastes in videos?! Stupid ditz!

Light was talking to L about fifty days in and saying weird things too. Some random line about discarding his pride? Woah! Crazy person! After that he sort of drooped his head then came up all excited saying he couldn't possibly be Kira! He know knew that! Crazy son of a bitch. Seventy days in L finally had to let them all go.

He had a test for them though. Unfortunately they passed. He made them think they were going to be executed and had Papa take them for a ride. During the ride Mr. Yagami had to point a gun at his son's head and shoot. Very believable, the gun was loaded with blanks though. Daddy was still alive so that meant they weren't Kira. L was still twelve percent sure Light was Kira. He still didn't want to let this guy out of his sight.

I had another notion about L's fetishes right after that. He handcuffed himself to Light. The chain was long. But it seemed like L was bisexual and really into that bondage stuff. How did they shower? Or get dressed or go to the bathroom?! My questions were all answered. They didn't shower or change clothes, and they just went to the bathroom together cuz that's normal for guys anyway.

This case was just getting too boring for me! I was so sick of getting border and border and border! Being a Protector is not all action! Definitely not! Most of it is sit back and watch, baby. I had no one at all to talk to. I was completely alone. I just sat in front of the monitor curled up into a ball.

I got to go out one day though. Only once! And that was because Watari is a very nice person and with Misa coming in and out to visit her boyfriend and everyone focused on the monitors he snuck me out. I only had an hour. When I got back Watari told me I'd missed an interesting fight between L and Light and would have been proud of L's capoeira. But I didn't care.

I was outside! I went to as many cafés and talked to as many people as I could! I needed conversation! I went on a shopping spree. I had to cart a taxi cab around with me to help me with the bags.

I chose the wrong taxi cab. The guy was a serial killer.

He turned a direction I didn't want to go and I knew something was wrong. I jumped out of the car and made a run for it.

He ran faster. He chased me and cornered me.

"Get away!" I was poised for fighting. My center of gravity low and years of instruction in ancient martial arts flaming into my mind. "You will regret this."

He came closer to me with his knife. "Do you know what I have to live through? Do you know what I go through each and every day? I'm saving you from this! From my life!"

"I don't much give a damn you crazy son of a bitch." I told him. He snapped at that. I broke his wrist with my palm when he charged towards me with the knife, screaming like a banshee he held his wrist and scrabbled for the knife with his other hand. I beat the crap out of him.

But, that wasn't the strangest part of the day. Now, this wasn't exactly strange until much, much later on. But I found a crumpled ball of paper as I was walking back to the cab. It wasn't much. I picked it up because I just felt compelled to. It was completely blank when I opened it but nobody crumples up a blank sheet of paper! There wasn't a mark on it!

The paper sort of had a feeling to it though. Paper having a feeling? But that's what I felt when I picked it up, a surge of empowerment, possibility. It was paper dammit! I shook my head but stuck the damn thing in my pocket anyway.

When I got back, I left it by my monitor and didn't touch it again.

Please rate and review! I'm eager to hear what you think about this fanfic so far. I know things are kind of slow but it's about to heat up!

I'm trying to think of a way to get yaoi action in this, if I do it will only be kissing, but it's kind of hard when your main character is a girl… Maybe she'll have a dream about it?

Thank you for reading thus far!


	3. Guardian

**Ice Angel262 again! I'll probably stop doing intro openings from here on out! They'll be at the end! 4545 iujhygt6fThank you for reading!**

I couldn't accept this. Not only was Light handcuffed to L but he'd hit him too? I'd just finished watching the replay from the monitors. L's capoeira was skilled and controlled whilst Light was just acting out in mindless rage. He threw a good punch, there was no doubt about that, but it was still like a child's. But the main thing was, HE HIT L? I hated this person more and more! I chewed on my pocky and stared back at the monitors.

L was developing new theories about Kira. Like, he supposed Kira could transfer his powers. This put Light Yagami at sixty-two percent surety of his being Kira. I was still fully convinced, but probably mostly because I didn't like him. L didn't let personal feelings get in the way of anything. That's what was so great about him. Nothing mattered more than justice. Nothing.

I merely watched over L as they investigated the monetal advantage of the most recent killings to a single company. How stupid was this new guy? He wasn't doing this for merely 'justice' but for greed and self gain. The killer was becoming stupid with money and power!

L had all ready tracked down the suspect to a small group of people within the company. All that was left was to figure out which person it was. It's too bad Light wasn't handcuffed to L anymore. One hotty cuffed to another may have been kinky but it was hot. But now Light was free. Well, not totally free. But he had more freedom than I did. I was stuck on this damn floor but he got to go around the building. He even had his own room with Misa. Which I think would have been hell…

In any case at least he got human interaction. My pity party was done though. A company called Yotsuba was going to be infiltrated soon by Matsuda and Misa. They wanted to investigate the chairman since it was most likely he was Kira. One night though, on the rarest of rare when Light was in his room investigating on his own and all the policeman had finally passed out from lack of sleep in their own rooms, L was alone! All alone save for Watari! I crawled into the little elevator my meals came up in and tinkered with it until it brought me to where I wanted to be. I got out on the ground floor and headed to the monitor room. There was L, as usual, working on the case and sipping tea. Watari had just left to get him more snacks.

I snuck up behind him. I could have stayed there for hours, I'd positioned myself so I wouldn't be visible in the monitors and I didn't focus my eyes on him but on the ground. I made my presence dissolve, I made myself invisible. What kind of protector would I be if I hadn't been trained by ninjas? I know, it sounds fantastical but honest to God ninjas trained me.

I wondered what to do now. I wanted to touch him actually. He looked like he hadn't bathed in days. He needed to get into the damn shower all ready! I thought about touching him again. Actually, he looked really huggable right now. Lack of human contact I supposed. So I hugged him.

And then L screamed and fell back onto me… He was damn heavy.

He turned over slowly; I was pinned under the insomniac with the spin that never straightened. My heart raced. Wow, I really needed to get out more often! This was L! My heart was beating over L? Weird. Just too weird.

"Aceline?!" He looked surprised. "You aren't supposed to be out of your rooms! What are you doing down here?"

I laughed nervously. "You make it sound like I'm grounded!"

He didn't say anything, waiting for me to answer his first question.

"I got lonesome," I sighed.

"Why didn't you call Watari?" L asked.

I looked at him. "Are you kidding? You need him more."

"But you-," He looked at me. Finally taking in the angle he was looking at me _from_. He jumped up so quick I thought he'd get whiplash. He sort of tried to hold his hand out to help me up. But it was hard for L to make human contact. I just lay there, so he went back to his chair to sit with his knees up to his chin and not looking at me. "You shouldn't take advantage of your abilities like that, Aceline." He said his words only slightly muffled around whatever sweet he was eating.

I felt hurt. I didn't like how he always rejected me like this, since the first day I tried to hug him. He never let me touch him. I scowled as I stood up.

"Hermit." I said as I walked away.

"Eh?" He swiveled his chair to look at me. "Aceline?"

I stopped and turned to look back at him. I felt really hurt. I was always all alone and I never even got to touch the one I was most connected to! The one I valued over my own life! I never got to touch L.

"You never let me touch you. You're a recluse! A hermit! You'll live in a shell the rest of your life!" I was mad. I was beyond mad! I was pissed. At L.

The man in question looked shocked. "Aceline, that can't be true! You've touched me before!"

"Not without you freaking out!" I glared at him.

He didn't know what to say. He certainly couldn't deny what I'd said. Apparently he had nothing to counter it with. I wanted to cry. With how many years I'd been with L he could hardly look at me and he'd never touched me. I didn't let these emotions show on my face though. At least, I'm pretty sure they didn't.

"I apologize." L said.

I shook my head and left. I pointed to the monitor where Light had just jumped up. L swiveled around and looked at the screen, then back to me. "Please be quick to your room.

*^*%*^*

I was angry and hurt but mostly angry. I was back in my rooms again. Rooms that were messy and unorganized and littered with clothes and wrappers and dishes. But amongst my comfortable chaos I was confused. I was going mad! Completely and totally mad! L hadn't changed but for some reason I was feeling the way I was. He was leaving me on my own for too long. I looked to the monitor where they were telling Matsuda and Misa what they'd have to do in order to finally be useful. They'd screw it up though. I sat in front of the monitor and leaned my cheek heavily on my hand. I had no faith in these two. They were idiots… Even L had said so.

I leaned forward a bit, and slipped, bumping my head into the screen.

"Ouch! That bloody hurts!" My English accent slipped out again as I rubbed my head. I tried to keep a neutral accent. It got hard in extreme times. Though I'd been born in Japan I was raised in England, in Wammy's house. Some things are hard to hide at times. I'd have to be more careful about that.

More importantly though was the reason I slipped. I'd put my elbow on that stupid piece of paper. That's what had caused me to slip, but I'd forgotten about it. I took out a new pen and wrote on the sheet of paper.

Did you know, that ninety-two percent of people who use a new pen will first write their own names? I didn't find out until later how good it was to be in the eight percent that didn't.

So, instead of my name, I wrote _L defeated Beyond Birthday and he will defeat Kira._ Honestly that was all I could think of at the time. I sort of remembered B though. I never met him of course but I'd heard about him living in Wammy's. I think K was in Japan too actually. Huh. Weird, I had a feeling of foreshadowing.

I looked at the paper. I continued writing random nonsense on the page. Writing sentences in Italian and French and German and Russian and Japanese and English and Chinese until the page was full. All languages that I'd learned with L. He had a higher IQ than I did but I was still a genius too. I wrote that down too, in English. I got bored of that and just laid the pen next to it. Matsuda and Misa were being sent to the company now. I spun in my spinning chair, waiting for something to happen. I looked at the monitor. L's hired thief had successfully bugged Mr. Chairman's car. They were good to spy.

I screamed and jumped back so hard I fell out of my chair. I was only vaguely thinking of how L had done this exact thing but more importantly, the page was blank. What the hell? I'd just written on the blasted thing and it was blank! And more importantly it was perfectly smooth. As if the paper had renewed itself. I grabbed the pen and scribbled all over both sides of the page. I sat down and watched it. It took awhile. Five minutes at the most. But the page really was renewing itself. It started from the first mark I'd made and traveled, a fading line, removing the ink and letting the indentions from the paper fill in as it went.

It scared the hell out of me! I threw the pen and jumped back from the pristine paper.

"Holy hell!" I shrieked as I stared at the paper. "Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell…" I repeated as I backed to my overcrowded bed. I hid myself amongst the mess of clothes and stuffed toys and whatever else was there.

It simply wasn't possible. But that was what I had seen. Incredible really. I went over to the paper and stared down at it. I picked it up and looked at it. What was the trick to it? How strange, it didn't seem to be mechanical. The pen I'd used did not have invisible ink. I tore off a corner of the paper. I stared at the sheet of paper for ten minutes and nothing happened. I suppose it can't grow corners back. Grow back? Hell the what?!

I was being weird. I figured that thinking of a sheet of paper as a living thing was fairly excusable at the moment.

Commotion?

I laughed as I looked at the monitor. Wedy had let herself in as usual. She was very skilled, but never skilled enough to have ever found me, of course, if she were ever looking for me she would have. Wedy was a master thief that L was going to use to help bring down Yotsuba. This was all boring to me. My only priority was keeping L alive. I didn't care about dying criminals or supernatural paper! That, right there on the monitor, the hunched over back, the impossibly sweet tooth, the ringed eyes and tired voice; that was all I cared about. That was the only thing that mattered in this world. L was my world. And I would not let anything touch him.

But now, because of this bloody piece of paper, I feared a greater threat than any mortal could pose. I thought back to what I'd heard while I was watching the monitors. Something struck. Something from years ago, when the case was still fresh. When a second Kira had come into play… Shinigami?

_I have the Eyes. When we meet let us show each other our God's of Death._

Shinigami then hm? L's greatest threat was a Death God. Honestly… Well, now I had to look into it further. Because obviously Shinigami really do exist. I'd have to capture one. Now I know what I had seen. I had seen Light giving an apple to a Shinigami. I wonder why I couldn't see the Shinigami? What did I have to do to get one? I would trap Light's Shinigami.

I spun around in my chair. I'd figured this out before L only because I'd always believed in what has not been disproven and because I get out sometimes. Field work can do a gal good. So, this was where the game really begins. Light vs. Aceline.

Game start.

_________

Ice Angel262: Thank you for reading this! Please review honestly! If you like it please continue to read it! Higuchi is up next, and you all know what that means!

Aceline: They don't have a clue what you're talking about…

Ice Angel262: Think reeeeeeeeaaally hard…

Aceline: … Write better.

Ice Angel262: *cries*


	4. Overseer

_Snap!_

_Bloody Fools! _I thought as I chewed on pocky after sweet, chocolaty pocky. Matsuda had always been a fool and even though Misa was a super-slut she was very good at being an actress. Of course, she just seemed pretty normal, normal for her. I rolled my eyes at the screen. Misa was the perfect definition of a 'dumb blonde'. It was unfortunate that stupidity like hers defined the hair color.

In any case, they were a terrible and grand choice for an undercover team. Although Matsuda really fucked up when he got caught eavesdropping. Excuse my language, Watari.

I was now watching a party. It was pretty funny to hear L talk the way he had when he used the two cell phones. Which was also funny considering he hated cell phones anyway. L was being his normal genius self and had all ready figured Matsuda was going to get killed for his stupid mistakes.

I get to watch him commit suicide! Tee hee! Die, Matsuda! Die for being a person that no one can resist liking but one who is still very annoying! L would have scolded me for thinking that. Don't wish death on others and righteous people shouldn't wish for death and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah.

Matsuda was acting like a drunken monkey at the moment. It was like a comedy show. I was laughing the whole time! The best part was when the little camera hidden in Misa's twin tails caught Matsuda as he pretended to fall. He actually did fall but not to his death. There was a dummy that fell and then someone pretending to be him on the ground. Matsuda was safely inside half-way down the building. L had worked this plan out in a matter of seconds. He was certainly talented.

I left the monitor. I wandered a bit further into the room. L had had Wedy place a great many cameras in Higuchi's car and office. He suspected that Higuchi was behind the killings now. He was thirty-four percent sure of it. Things were certainly getting interesting, and Light was just as guiltless as ever. L's certainty of his being Kira was wavering at two percent. But two percent was certainly enough.

I spun in my chair and munched on more of my pocky.

"Stupid Kira," I muttered to myself, I found that talking to myself decreased my loneliness. Hearing a voice, even your own, can help reduce feelings of abandonment. "Why do you have to be such a complicated killer?"

_Ding! _

Ooh. My little elevator rang. I jumped up to go see what was inside.

When the little door slid open I found boxes of pocky and a bowl full of apples. Yay! Watari had given me the apples I'd requested and also put in more pocky! Yay! Yay!

_I love ya old man!_ I thought to myself.

Now then, how do you set a trap for a Shinigami? I seriously considered putting one under a box and waiting for the apple to lift but that was silly. A trail of apples would be a little too obvious. But these were very high class apples. Maybe…hmm...no. It would take some thinking.

There was commotion.

Misa had gotten into the car with him earlier and practically thrown herself at Higuchi saying she was really in love with Kira and blah, blah, blah. Slut. Worst thing was she really did admire Kira. Gross. But that obviously meant Higuchi was an old pervert.

And, Higuchi had all but admitted to the killings and now he was in his car…talking to himself? No, he must be talking to a Shinigami. But Light looked genuinely confused. So, maybe he'd forgotten he was Kira? If Higuchi was talking to a Shinigami then he had the powers of Kira, which would mean Light had transferred his Shinigami. Which would mean Light forgot?

Whoa gawd!

L's gettin' intah the choppah!

Aw, hell! What's going on? Oh, a car chase! Higuchi killed a cop! Somehow! He didn't do anything! No gun, no slipped poison! Did the Shinigami reach in a squeeze the cop's heart? But how could the Shinigami do that without a command? And honestly, if you were a death god would you want to take orders from a human? I sure as hell wouldn't.

So how did he do it? He'd written something I think. Is that how? That's a bit too radical.

In any case, I was glad to have had the old guy put a couple of cameras into the helicopter. I could see Light and L as Watari drove the heli over the car chase. Light looked as innocent as ever. But then again, looks can be deceiving. I watched Light as closely as I could, which was almost completely. I kept glancing at L. He was eating some sweet and talking. I couldn't hear what was being said but I caught a few words because I could read lips, but only a little. I'd be able to catch a bit more if they were speaking English but it was harder for me to read lips in Japanese. They were talking about Higuchi though. And most likely about how he was killing. One of the cops had seen a notebook.

Could that really be it? Some demonic notebook controlled the Shinigami and people died of cardiac arrest? It was nearly unbelievable. Nearly.

Oh, oh, oooohh!!! Look, Aceline, look at that!

"Kya!" I squealed, "They caught him, they caught him! Yes!!"

The monitor showed Higuchi being led out of the car…forced out of the car… But there, oh, a notebook! The notebook had some sort of writing on it. It was too small to read though. But there was some sort of commotion. Officer Yagami picked up the notebook and started screaming his brains out!

"The Shinigami!" I gasped. He must be seeing the Shinigami! I groaned, I wanna see it too! I found it first! I even have really good apples for it!! No fair, no fair! Old man Yagami pretty well finished his screaming and quickly brought the note to L. L touched it, but only barely, he then looked up, and yelped. His mouth opened, his eyes widened, and he sat, staring and making strange noises. Oh L, Shinigami are real of course!

Light was looking from him to the empty space with concern. L gave him the notebook, and Light totally flipped out!!! It was hilarious to watch! Ha, ha Light lookit the scary death god! Not like it's anything new in any case, not for him. Light had stopped his screaming and was just staring out the window. I couldn't see his face but his posture changed slightly. Only slightly. L noticed this too and asked if he was okay. He turned around and looked at L the same as he had before, and right then, Higuchi died. Just seconds after Light turned around! What? Did Light kill him? Light looked the same as ever but something extremely subtle had changed in his eyes.

I was one hundred percent sure Light was Kira. I just had to keep him from killing L. And for that, I needed a Shinigami.

*^*%*^*

It was called a Death Note. That much was now known about the little black notebook. It also came with a set of How to Use rules. Blast it, who reads manuals anyway? They've always bored me. But I listened very closely. Everyone could see it now. Except me! I was almost certain I'd found a piece of the Death Note but even as I sat there, playing it between my fingers, I could see nothing! Maybe they didn't show up on camera? That seemed a bit unlikely though… I'd have to find a way to get down there and look for it, but how? How do you hide from that which you cannot see? I didn't even know where it would be!

And, furthermore, what if it told Light about me? No, no, that would not do. I can't have my existence be known. I must, forever, remain an anomaly. What good am I to L if I'm dead? I am nothing if I am not useful. If I ever become worthless to L I would take my own life! I'd have to find another way to catch that Shinigami and keep it from telling Light about my existence.

As I sighed Misa showed up at the front door whining her tiny little arse off for entrance.

"I wanna see Light!!! Let me in! Misa-misa is here! Let me see my boyfriend!"

Ew. Annoying, brainless, and she has bad taste? Honestly, what kind of Goth-punk starlet chooses an Aberzombie and Fitch wanna-be as a snogging partner.

I watched closely as Light went to her. This was a long hug. No doubt L was suspicious too. I wonder how much he suspects him now. He always tells everyone his suspicion is much lower than it is, but we hadn't talked in a while. This case was becoming extremely inconvenient for my own lingering sanity.

Ah, there she goes. Thank God. I wonder what they talked about. She looked so determined as she left. I decided I had to follow her. I took my phone and found her number. Thanks to L I had it. I hacked into her GPS and began tracking her. I grabbed one of the genetically enhanced apples and slid into the food elevator. Lud, it was as if I were some sort of hiding criminal! I maneuvered my way down and crept out of the kitchen.

Honestly, L was a little flamboyant. He had a huge building for a total of six people, not including Watari and me. It was empty but I had to be wary of surveillance cameras. That man made it nearly impossible to get out unseen! I ended up going through the basements, finding my way to the sewers, and finally coming up in the middle of a busy but slow moving street. It was a bit too cliché for me.

I looked down at my phone and began to chase the dot that was Misa.

Actually, the dot might have been more intelligent.

*^*%*^*

Misa was digging. I watched her closely from my treetop hiding place. It hadn't taken much to find her. The girl wasn't exactly stealthy.

Misa dug up a little box. It would have looked ordinary except that I suspected this was what Light told her to do and the fact that Misa would never remember where she buried a box. I wanted to move closer for a look but I didn't want to risk making any noise. Even she wasn't stupid enough not to hear movement above her head! Or was she?

Misa opened the box and, of course, pulled out a little black note. This one had Death Note written in English. More than one. How many exactly were there? How had no one ever found one before? And if someone had, how had they kept it hidden? I touched the piece of paper in my pocket as Misa opened the book to touch the paper as well.

And, with that single touch, my world spiraled.

Everything I thought I knew about reality twisted and warped as a hideous and frightening beast appeared before Misa. Misa talked to it and smiled happily and tossed the thing an apple which it devoured. She held a letter but I couldn't see it and I couldn't make out what was being said.

I was sure it had something to do with the Shinigami going off to kill L or something. As the thing flew off I took off running across the close tree limbs. I was afraid I'd fall more than once. I kept the thing in sight but only barely. As the trees grew farther apart I stopped, took aim, and threw the apple at the Shinigami.

I was aiming for the head, but I hit his arse. Good enough. I climbed higher into the trees. How does one trap a Shinigami? I pulled the paper out of my pocket and waved it in the air. The thing was devouring the apple, which had been genetically enhanced by Americans to be larger, redder, and sweeter.

I repressed a shiver of horror and disgust as the thing noticed me and began its way towards me. I masked my emotions and set my faced into a determined and confident look.

"Heh, heh, heh," the thing said in a gravelly voice, "What's this? You have a piece of the Death Note?" It laughed as if this were the most amusing thing in the world.

"I do in fact. Are you aware of who I am Shinigami-sama?" I asked.

"No," He(?) said. I still caught a glimmer of amusement in the things eyes, or did I? Hard to tell since it wasn't human. "I don't like that either, since you know what I am."

"Are you going to kill me?" I asked.

"Probably not." Blunt…

"Are you Light's companion?" I could be blunt as well.

The Shinigami jumped a bit, but he masked it with a flap of his wings. I caught it; I was on edge all ready, nothing would slip by me.

"You ask so much. Do you want to make a deal?"

"I try not to deal with the devil." I said curtly. "But I will in this case. In exchange for the information I want, I'll give you plenty more of those apples, and any information you might want."

"Information is little to me. I wish for only amusement." The thing laughed. "My name is not devil, I am Ryuk!" It laughed again.

"Well Ryuk, I am Aceline Spade." I smirked. He looked above my head and smiled, I turned but saw nothing. "I believe I can offer you some amusement. What kind do you desire?" Desire sounded a little lewd when offering amusement but in trust I did not mean it in a sexual manner. It means little to gods anyway right?

"You all ready have little human," Ryuk cackled.

"Can you sense the Death Note?" I asked. He only smirked. Or did he? It was hard to tell with his mouth. I could read nothing from his expression, I continued none the less. "Find me after your business is done."

Ryuk merely cackled again as he flew off.

This was certainly an interesting turn of events. If that thing was really on Light's side…

L would surely die.


	5. Partisan

Thank you for reading everyone!!! Chapter five! Nya! \=~.^=/ A little side note! L is twenty-three or something when Death Note starts. So the next scene makes sense! Ah! If you haven't all ready, please find Chapter 0 on the internet!

*^*%*^*

"There we go!" I put the finishing touches on the cupcake. Right now a couple of the investigators were out doing some sort of shopping. Weaponry I believe. And others had gone to bed. Misa had moved in and Light was in the room with her. Which left L alone downstairs…

I crept out of my room and took the natural path to avoid the security cameras. To keep myself entertained I'd been running all around the building lately. I now had a well know path to the observation room.

I pulled a lighter out of my pocket as I slid into the observation room.

I light the candle on the cupcake.

"Happy Birthday to you!" I sang cheerfully. L turned around quickly to see what was going on.

"Aceline!!!" L's eyes widened; horror or surprise?

I smiled and set the little cake in front of him. "Happy twenty-fifth! Make a wish!"

L turned sleepy looking eyes to the cake in front of him. He leaned in close and blew out the little candle.

"Thank you, Aceline." L smiled. "I'd forgotten."

"No you didn't. I know you better than that. Lying is useless." My heart began to pound as he looked at me. Why was I getting so excited? The only explanation was, of course, my extended isolation. That damned Ryuk hadn't even come. Was I so needy for attention that I couldn't control my own thudding heart? That my arms itched to hug him?

"Sorry." He chuckled a little. "What are you doing out of your rooms?"

"Giving you that! Besides, you don't honestly expect me to stay in those rooms for all this time do you?"

"Heh, you're right, I know you better." He scooped some of the frosting and sucked it off his finger. "Delicious. Thanks again, Aceline. I appreciate it. I am a little nervous about getting caught though."

"Does it really matter if they know when your birthday is? It's not like they can find your name out with it." I crossed my arms over my chest in an attempt to stop the aggregating feeling as I leaned a hip against the computer desk.

L rolled his eyes and looked up at me from his crouched position. "It's you I'm worried about being found out."

"You know, this is what I don't get. If you are no longer hiding, why should I?"

"Because you are my Ace card right? I will not expose my advantage so early in the game." I rolled my eyes.

"As if this is early in the game!" I retorted. I sighed inwardly. I hated sounding so childish, especially with my eighteenth so close.

L ignored that, "What would you like to do for your birthday, Aceline." Mind reader!

It was heartwarming that he would be concerned over what I'd want to do for my birthday. Maybe learn to drive…

"I'll tell you later." I smiled. I looked up at the monitor and my smile became a glare. L glanced at it too and something unreadable came into his expression. I really did sigh this time. The car was coming into the garage. When would I get to talk to L again?

"Aceline," L said.

"I know." I pushed heavily from the desk. Screw this! If I can't see him for unpredictable amounts of time I'll at least musk up enough courage to hug him!

And so I did. I expected him to just sit there so I was a little surprised when he pressed his head into my shoulder and wrapped his free arm around me. I felt really safe. He smelled like sweets first and foremost. I nuzzled into him a little, he smelled masculine as well. It was an intoxicating mix.

"I'm sorry, Aceline," He said quietly. I cuddled into him once more and pulled away.

"Thanks, love." I said and turned to run out of the room before anyone came back and- oh crap! Footsteps!

L and I exchanged a quick horrified glance. L slid his gaze to a small cubby. It didn't look like I'd fit but I dove for it anyway. I opened the door and slid in. I realized it was roomier inside than it looked as I closed the door. It still took a great feat of flexibility to fit myself into it. Through the steel I heard Light's voice. It sounded as if he were excited about something. I heard buttons clacking and a door slid quietly open.

Which brought my attention to something else, why was this cupboard empty? L wasn't really the type for making things homey. I figured out why as I slid out of the little cubby and into a larger room. In the center the Death Note lay in a glass case. This was the Japanese copy.

I gazed around the room. Quite obviously there were only two ways in. The cupboard and a door with a very secure looking lock and keypad. Since Watari was the one bringing the note to and from inspection he would be the only one who knew about it.

I crept closer to the note. This was locked up tight too. What was the code to open it? I thought hard about what Watari would choose as a password. I had no clues. How many times had the number been put in? I looked closely at the keypad. Couldn't be more than four or five. My scrutiny became even greater. Yes! There was a very slight oil residue on some of the keys. 23456. A five letter code? For something so secret a five number code seemed like hardly enough. What would the numbers correspond too? Letters of the alphabet? Seemed hardly like Watari. I took out my mobile to see if I could find anything out by hacking into L's computer. That was when I noticed it. Normal keypads had the higher numbers at the top. Phone keypads had the lesser numbers at the top and ended with zero, like the keypad locking up the note. So the numbers spelled something. I thought carefully, but no words would fit. Most likely I'd have only one chance to open it or I'd set off some booby trap.

I thought. L's real name would be 5295438, so that didn't fit. The 8 and 9 hadn't been used. Was it Watari? No, the 9 and 8 are again used in that. I thought again.

Then I went to the keypad and pressed 2235463. It worked! I felt a warm smile come to my lips. Aceline. That was his password. I gently picked up the note. I had a feeling that Ryuk was connected to the English notebook and another Shinigami was attached to this one. I tore a page from the note and shoved it into my pocket.

I replaced the note. After that getting back to my room was easy.

*^*%*^*

My room smelled of apples. I had been anticipating the Death God Ryuk's visitation and had asked Watari to send me a basket of apples every day. Almost every surface was covered in them. I walked over to my treadmill and began running. I had to keep in shape, lazing around was no good of course.

"Eeh?!" A gravelly voice exclaimed behind me. I shrieked and nearly fell off of the tread mill.

"Oh my God, Ryuk!" I shut the machine off and turned to him.

My mouth fell open. Ryuk was looking like a child at carnival! The room full of apples seemed to be the cause. I grinned.

"You know, for a nice, truthful chat you can have every single apple in this room. I'll even let you eat them while we talk." I purred. I was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"Really?" Ryuk laughed. He really was excited. "You're so much more considerate than Light-kun!"

"Oh?" Ryuk looked a little guilty but that passed. "Are you Yagami's familiar?"

"No."

"Whose side are you on?"

"Nobody's."

Hmm. Was this good or bad? Someone so neutral was always dangerous. No doubt Ryuk would use my existence to his advantage. But he didn't know I was with L.

"Well, do we have a deal on the exchange?" I asked after a moment's consideration.

"Yes!"

"You must answer truthfully."

"I am an honorable Death God. I always keep my word." There was something behind that last sentence. I found it foreboding.

"All right!" I held my hand out and Ryuk just looked at it. "Shake hands?" He took my hand and I moved them both up and down. I released my grip and went to sit on a pile of comfy stuffed animals. "Have all the apples you like, Ryuk-sama. I'll begin asking questions.

He began eating the apples, even the cores. It was a little grotesque. I almost imagined what it would be like were he eating flesh… oh my gawd…

I cleared my throat. "Now then, where are you from?"

"Th Shimigami werrld." Ryuk said around a mouthful.

"Where is that?"

He thought for a moment, swallowed, and said, "The best way to explain it is to say it's another dimension." He grabbed another apple.

"How would I get there?"

"Why wood oo anna oh?" He asked before starting another apple.

"Why wouldn't I want to go?"

Ryuk chuckled. "It's boring for starts! You'd probably get killed. There isn't much to see and there are Shinigami much scarier than me."

Yeah, I doubted that.

"How would I get there?" I tossed him an apple.

"Don't know," He took a huge bite, matching the one I'd first seen him take. I was pretty much right in some of my assumptions though.

"How do you get back?" This was going to be a little frustrating.

"I fly."

"Where is the door back?"

"Erh, there's one just over Tokyo Tower, Big Ben, The Empire State Building, and Australia. Heh, the one over Australia is the biggest."

Ozone? I handed Ryuk another basket of apples.

"Why are they positioned over landmarks like those?"

"They look out onto highly populated areas, except Australia, that one was a recent accident…"

"Why would you need to look at populated areas?"

"Heh," Ryuk's apple was temporarily forgotten, "Don't you know? It's how we get our lifespan."

"By writing the names of humans?"

"Of course."

"What if someone accidentally wrote a name someone shared and thought of the wrong person's face? Could they erase it?"

"Not with a normal eraser."

"Is there a special eraser?"

"Yes."

"Can I see it?"

Ryuk reached into this pouch looking thing on his hip and pulled out what looked like a regular eraser. I held my hand out for it, he didn't move to hand it over.

"How is this special?" I dropped my hand for now.

"It will completely erase anything written in a Death Note. It can even bring back the dead."

"How many of these are there?"

"One, I tricked it from the King of Death Gods."

I didn't bother to repress a shudder.

"Can I have it?"

"No."

"Is there a price for it?"

"Yes."

"What do I have to do to get it?"

"You must give me half of your remaining lifespan."

"Half?!!!" Ryuk nodded.

Half of my remaining lifespan. Assuming I lived to eighty, that would leave about forty-one years left. I didn't know if I could pay that price. He was still holding up the eraser, but he was eating an apple as well.

"Are there other prices?"

"I am in a good mood. I would be willing to make a bargain if you make a better offer."

"All the apples you could eat ever?"

Ryuk chuckled. "No."

Damn. I sat back to think. What could be more valuable to a Death God?

"Is there something you want, Ryuk?"

"Heh, not really. Just more amusement."

"What is amusing to you?"

"The battle between L and Kira. You are amusing as well. I find a lot of humans to be very amusing."

"You can have Misa."

"Rem would find a way to kill me if I took her precious human."

Rem? Whatever.

"When do you have to go back to the Death God World?"

"I'll probably have to go back after Kira dies or relinquishes the Death Note."

"What if I could keep you from going back?"

"If you could do that I would probably give you the eraser."

"Does the eraser renew itself like the note paper?"

"Yes."

I hugged him. The hug had a purpose though. I let the hug last for a very long time before pulling away and properly clasping my hands behind my back.

"Thank you for the exchange, Ryuk-sama. Feel free to finish off all of these apples. I'll keep a steady supply if you keep my existence from Light."

Ryuk nodded eagerly.

"If you'll excuse me, I am human and I need sleep." I ducked quickly out of the room and to my monitoring station.

I opened my palm and looked at a small chunk of Death Eraser I had taken.

I would not let L die.


	6. Advocate

Hello my lovely readers! It's the author, Ice Angel262 with a life altering announcement!! Please give me your opinions on the relationship between L and Aceline! If there are any advances you would like to see please voice them! I will consider what I can and cannot do with their relationship! Now is the time to let your love advice be heard noda!

Thank you nya!! (''')=^.^=(''')

*^*%*^*

I paced. The sound of crunching apples had gone and I was left alone with my thoughts. I didn't expect Ryuk to keep his word, but I knew he wouldn't reveal my identity too soon unless it benefited him. Humans were subject to the whims of gods right?

L was stumped. If Light were Kira then according to one of the rules in the Death Note he should have been dead. There was a rule that stated that if a human used the Death Note and did not use it for thirteen days they would die. Light went for about three months without writing in the note.

So basically he had looped around and I was beginning to get fed up. I would have asked L to give up the case, (really, does it matter if criminals die?) if one: Kira weren't a bad person with a God Complex and two: if L were actually capable of giving something up.

_Knock, knock, knock!_

I jumped and looked at the door with wide eyed horror. Who would knock on my door? My rooms were in an entirely separate wing from where the living spaces for the others were so there couldn't be a mistake. Did someone know I was here? Who had discovered my presence? Had Ryuk told Light of my existence?

I hid myself in a pile of stuffed animals as the door opened.

"Aceline?"

Watari!

I jumped out of the pile of stuffed animals and practically glomped the old man.

"Watari! What are you doing here?" I asked, I felt my lips curl into a joyous smile. It had been too long since I saw him last.

"I haven't seen you in a while," he said, petting my head, "I wanted to ask how you were doing?"

"Come, sit," I led him into the room that served as a sitting place. I had a bean bag, a pile of stuffed animals, and a short coffee table. I went and grabbed my computer chair from the other room and gave it to him to sit in. "I've missed you, Watari!"

"Aceline, I've missed you too. How are your accommodations?" Watari said in his old gentle voice.

"It's fine. A bit boring, but definitely liveable. Especially since you're always sending up Pocky." I laughed.

Watari laughed too. "I'm glad to hear it."

"Ne, by the by, shouldn't you be with L?" I asked.

"Ah, I went for a little break. I don't have to be with L all the time and I felt I was neglecting you."

Aw, how sweet.

I hugged him again. A noise came from the other room. The monitor.

"Sounds like something's going on." I was a little sad that my time with Watari was so short.

Watari gave a small sigh and stood up. "I apologize for leaving so soon." He and I hugged again and he left. I was alone.

I was glad to have been able to see my surrogate father. It had been far too long. The Kira case was unusual. I'd never had to be alone except for maybe a few minutes. L never showed his face or interacted with anyone so we were all always together. I suppose I was just finding out that I was the type of person who needed to be around people.

When this case is over I'm getting a cat.

*^*%*^*

I do not use my time idly. I am always thinking. As I went through the routine that had entered my days since this building had been built I had been thinking about how I was going to get a hold of the Death Note if L's name were ever written in it.

The idea came to me when I was practicing my capoeira.

It was very likely that Light would try to kill L. But there was no way he could unless he knew L's name. I had already worked out that Shinigami could see people's names. Ryuk had said they wrote human names down and it was very unlikely that they went to Earth and asked. There was also the fact that Ryuk had looked above my head when I'd said my name.

I had been wondering lately about that. Questions had arisen. Was Aceline Spade my real name? Did I have a name given to me at birth? If Aceline Spade was not my real name then what was?

"Augh!" I screamed aloud in frustration. I shoved my identity crises out of my mind. I needed to focus on L.

Seeing as the only ones who would be able to see L's real name were the Shinigami, I would have to follow them. I had seen the one called Rem. It was an eighty-nine percent chance that, if L's name were written in the Death Note, Rem would be the one to do it. The other investigators still didn't know about Ryuk. Rem interacted with the team a little bit, they all knew her. I would have to go find the purple haired Shinigami and track her every move.

The only problem was the question of how I would do that.

I was currently debating whether to follow her in person. The problem with that was that I didn't know how to bribe her into silence.

But, maybe I didn't need her silence? I could stalk her with the surveillance.

I moved to my monitoring system. I sat cross-legged in the chair and began to type on the key board. I searched the entire building, even my rooms. I had touched both notebooks, so I should be able to see the second Shinigami that Ryuk had called Rem. There! There she was! She was talking to L. The one called Rem. She actually looked kind of cool… Like a Halloween skeleton…

*^*%*^*

It was raining outside. It felt like an omen. I grabbed an umbrella and went up to the roof. On days like this L always got a little crazier. Ever since we were both kids this kind of weather had a serious effect on him. Probably trauma from his childhood before we met. All children at Wammy's House had some sort of trauma.

I opened the door to the roof quietly.

"You'll catch a cold."

L looked at me with dilated eyes. "I don't have to worry about colds, Aceline, my immune system isn't so weak." His voice was soft, kind of low.

I smiled weakly at him. "What happened, love?"

He looked back at the pouring heavens. "I have a trap for Light."

"That's good."

L nodded.

"Care to share it?"

"I am going to test the 13 day rule."

"Ah, you don't believe it?"

"It's suspicious."

"Is it, L? It seemed authentic. The Shinigami said it was."

"Do you not think Shinigami capable of lying?"

I smiled wryly. "I think they will if it benefits them."

L nodded. "I think so too."

"I'm going back inside, L." I said finally. He was getting to the state where he wasn't really listening to me but whatever was in his head. I began to walk away.

"Goodbye, Aceline." He said when I was almost to the far side door.

I froze. I turned slowly to look at him. The sound of rain pelting off of my umbrella seemed too loud as his words played through my head. The words, did they hold two meanings? Was the tone they were said in really so final? Was this a last goodbye?

"L wh-"

"Ryuuzaki, what are you doing out here?"

I stepped back into the shadows. I was fairly sure he couldn't see me behind my mask of rain.

"I was just thinking that the bells are awfully loud today."

"What bells?"

"The church bells. They've been bothering me all day, so loud. Maybe it's a wedding."

_Or a funeral. _The thought came unbidden into my mind.

I began to shake. I didn't hear the rest of what was said. I slipped soundlessly back inside. There was a ringing in my ears. Not the kind that L hears sometimes. It was the ringing you sometimes get after you've heard something really loud. I could hear L's bells. I was scared. L was telling me that he knew he was going to die. Had he known since the moment he started the case? Had he been hinting all along, each word carrying a heavier meaning?

Why was I shaking so much? I looked down at my hands. I clasped them together to try to stop them. I had to be strong right now, no matter what. L was going to die and I had to save him! I had to stop it!

What were my reasons? Why was I so determined not to let him die? Children at Wammy's were being trained to take his place when he died, it was going to happen sooner or later? It's my job! I can't let him die. I must stop any obstacle I can. I was raised for it, brought to him for it, I lived not to let him die. That was why. It is my job, of course I'm determined.

But that didn't cover it. A job felt more professional, why was this so deep? My chest. My chest felt so heavy just thinking that L might die.

_I love him_. Another wanton thought. But it was true wasn't it? It had been true for a long time. I hadn't noticed it before. Was it because I myself had never been loved that I could not recognize it in my own head?

_I love him, and he's going to die_. Two thoughts that ring true. Two thoughts that will change my life.

I stood up, using the wall to do so. I leaned hard against it before hazarding a step. I knew where Rem was. Could I kill her? Normal weapons wouldn't work surely. Would a Death Note?

Bloody hell?! I was thinking about murdering a Death God! I was thinking of murder! I picked up my umbrella and walked to my rooms.

I had known this since L revealed himself to the police force. Maybe even before that.

Tsh! I would be damned if I was going to let L die after I just figured out I loved him! I'm not a fan of unrequited love. I was even more determined now than before.

L will live.

*^*%*^*

Ice Angel262 here everyone! You're loving author! I'm quite fond of how this story is progressing! I was having trouble choosing a synonym for the title of this chapter. I like the one I chose. By the way, has anyone else noticed it about the titles? Just curious!

Mina-chan! Please review and continue to read!


	7. Safegaurd

L had not told me his plan. I got to find out with everyone else.

"I am going to test the 13 day rule."

Less than ten words would cause his death.

*^*%*^*

"Watari! Watari!"

Something was wrong. And then my screen went blank as L's words were cut off. I ran downstairs, expecting the worse and getting it. I heard something fall and then panicked voices. That was where L was. I glanced in to see L on the ground…in Light Yagami's arms. Fury, sadness, disappointment, rage, all of these emotions flashed through me. My breathing came fast and I closed my eyes to listen for a sign as to where Rem was.

I heard a sound like an hourglass and dashed to it. I was in a supply room with no supplies and there she was. It looked like she was melting, but she was dissolving?

She was dying. She looked over at me with a look of first surprise, then sadness? She held the notebook in her hands. I walked over and took it from her, she tried to stop me but her hands were all ready sand.

I flipped through the notebook, only half aware of screaming. I didn't have much time.

It didn't take long to find L's true name scrawled across an entire page. I tore the page out and shoved it into my pocket. I searched for Watari's name. I searched again and again but it wasn't there! I was sure he had died! He'd wiped the files, every single hard drive in every computer! I looked over and the Shinigami had been reduced to a pile of ash.

Footsteps. Someone was coming. Watari's name was not in the Death Note. I threw the notebook onto the pile of sand and hid behind one of the shelves on the far side of the room, past the sand. Whoever was coming would stop at the sand and go no further… I hoped.

Yagami Light was the one who walked into the room, a smile on his face as he saw the dead Shinigami.

Fury blossomed in my chest as I looked at him. I feared the intensity of my glare would be noticed as he picked up the note and stuffed it behind his shirt in the back of his pants. I pressed my back to the shelf and closed my eyes.

"Everyone, over here!"

L is dead. L is dead. L is dead. I repeated this in my head until the mantra no longer sounded like real words and I continued it anyway.

I stayed in place long after everyone had left. I willed no tears to pass my lids. I looked around for an air vent. It didn't take long to find one and it was fairly easy to open if I used my Swiss army knife. It was very handy and I carried it everywhere.

I chatted away inside my head.

A Swiss Army Knife is a brand of multi-function pocket knife or multi-tool. Generally speaking, a Swiss Army knife has a blade as well as various tools, such as screwdrivers and can openers. These attachments are stored inside the handle of the knife through a pivot point mechanism. The handle is usually red, and features a Cross and Shield, the emblem of Switzerland. The knife model that is currently in use by the Swiss Army has a knurled a lox handle with the Swiss crest, a blade, a reamer, a blade combining bottle opener, screwdriver, and wire stripper, and a combined can-opener and small screwdriver. It originated in Ibach Schwyz, Switzerland in 1897. The term "Swiss-

I cut myself off as I jumped into my room.

Babbling wasn't going to help. Who cared about the history of a bloody Swiss Army Knife?! Hell!

I walked over to a window and took out my mobile phone. I had a chip. It was a chip Watari gave me. He said never to look at it until he was dead. I put the chip into my phone.

It was a video of Watari.

"_Aceline, if you are watching this I am dead. I don't know if I have died of natural causes or in the line of duty but I do know you will not look at this until I've died. If I have died in the line of duty I expect L might be dead or becoming dead. Tell Wammy's. They should have L's successor chosen by now. Aceline, if L is still alive he needs you now more than ever. You are not a Protector of L's body. He's stronger than you so if he were to fall physically I do not believe there would be much you could do. Aceline, I chose you to protect L's heart. I knew you would always be able to do that. L is an independent soul, he lets no one in. But, I believe you have entered his heart just as I have. Protect him Aceline._

_One more thing, my dear. I leave you half of my assets and ownership of Wammy's House. I have all of it in a bank account in England under the name Alice Smith. The password is your name if you were to type it on a mobile phone. Continue what I could not do in one lifetime, please._

_Goodbye."_

I felt a small tear roll down my cheek and wiped it angrily away. It was Watari's will. I dialed the number for Wammy's House, it was an emergency contact.

"L and Watari are dead." I told whoever picked up the phone. I hung up and opened a window.

I watched the phone fall and crash onto the sidewalk below. I pulled back and shut the window before anyone looked up. I had to bring L back to life, and I had to make sure the Death Note never reached Earth again.

*^*^%*^*

I used a credit card to hire a hearse and driver. I couldn't drive or I would have done it myself. I also bought two caskets. I dressed in all black with a veil over my face that was so dark my features were indiscernible. It was only four hours after L had died. I rode up to the garage with the driver before getting out. Thank goodness I was greeted there as well. By Chief Yagami.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" He demanded.

"I am no one. L instructed me to get his body if he dies. He is dead."

"H-How do you know?!"

"I work with L." The voice changer sounded pretty damned cool…

"Ah. Okay. Um, Watari has died as well."

"I will take both bodies back with me. Please do not question me further. I am asking for your trust."

Yagami nodded. I waited outside. The remaining police force exited with sullen faces. They carried two body bags. I went to the back and opened up the caskets, L's body went into one, and Watari's went into another. My face felt warm.

I turned and bowed. I studied them, I noticed Light was not there.

"Thank you for returning his body to me."

"N-no, it's no problem…" Yagami said.

"I-I really thought Ryuuzaki was a great guy!" Matsuda blurted. "H-he was a really great person."

I almost smiled. I got back into the car without another word. I had arranged for Watari's body to be shipped back to England the next day. They would bury him in the graveyard near Wammy's, with his family.

I instructed the driver where to leave me and the caskets and paid his silence.

I took off the veil and reached into one of the pockets of the dress to pull out the crumpled paper with L's name on it.

I smoothed it out onto a coffee table in the motel room. I had only taken a couple of bags of clothes, one with my clothes and one with L's. The rest of our things were in the headquarters.

I held the eraser in trembling hands; L's body was out of the casket and body bag and was lying on the bed. I looked over at him. It was a lie. People do not look like they are sleeping when they die. L was pale and stiff and looked just…wrong. He just looked wrong. His chest wasn't moving. His blood was frozen in still veins. No, he didn't look asleep, he looked _dead_. I turned back to the page in front of me and began to drag the eraser across the lines of his name. Whatever it was written in erased easily. The marks didn't look like ink or graphite or anything else I'd ever seen. It must be some sort of strange Shinigami ink. One by one the lines on the page disappeared. I stared down at the rumpled but blank page.

This was it. This was all I could do as L's protector. There was nothing more. If this didn't work then L was dead forever. Nothing could bring back Watari. He was old; he must have actually thought it was a heart attack from Kira. I walked over to the bed and looked down at L.

Nothing.

I waited.

I could still see nothing. I leaned over him and put my ear close to his lips. There. Just the faintest motion. Breathing. He was breathing!! I laughed out loud. It had worked! L was alive! L was not dead! L was alive and breathing! I looked down at him with a smile on my face. The smile slowly died as he didn't wake up. He had died. Would that cause brain damage? Was he paralyzed?

Hope for the best, Aceline.

It would make sense that he was just sleeping. His body needed to make repairs and it had been many months since his last sleep. I decided to wait for him to wake up. It was midnight, the day L had died was over and now he was alive again. I sat on the bed next to him, watching.

I fell asleep.

*^*%*^*

A small change brought me out of the haze of dreams. I looked at the motel alarm clock. 21:03. It was 9 o'clock, November 7. That date was familiar but I was still groggy, I couldn't figure out why. I knew L was dead and then alive again. Was that why November 7 was important? I'd been asleep since three this morning. It was boring waiting for L to wake up. And watching him sleep had put her to sleep.

I looked at the place where Watari's casket had been. It had all ready been taken back to England. I had taken the pendent he'd worn around his neck under his clothes. It was a teeny-tiny L. He had always talked of giving it to L. It was around my neck now.

There was more movement. I turned onto my back and looked up.

L was looking down at me. He still had rings under his eyes. His pupils weren't dilated and I could see the pretty slate grey of his irises. He was alive and awake and he looked healthy and fine!

I hugged him around the waist. I buried my face there and began to sob. Relief, joy, grief, all of it! All of it washed down my face in streaks.

"Lawliet! Oh, Lawliet, you were dead! You were dead and Rem killed you! And Watari! Watari is dead! And I couldn't bring him back, Lawliet! I couldn't! Rem didn't kill him, no one did!" I whined between sobs. I was aware of a small petting sensation. L was running his fingers through my hair.

"Aceline," He murmured, his voice was close. I looked up and his face was so close to mine as he bent over me, comforting me.

He moved closer and I shut my eyes tight, willing the flow of tears to ebb. I felt his lips on my cheek and then he pulled away. My eyes flew open in shock. His tongue grazed his lips, tasting my tears?

"Aceline, I do not like salty things." He said. He was making a joke? Watari was dead, he had just died. He was making a joke?

"Lawliet!" I sat up straight and wiped my face on a black, lacey, sleeve. "Watari! Watari died!"

"You said no one wrote his name in the Death Note."

"Yeah. It wasn't there."

"Then it was his time to die. I am sad for his loss and I mourn him, but he didn't die because of Kira. He can finally rest instead of taking care of me all the time." I searched his eyes. They were pretty eyes and he was right. I took in a shuddering breath and nodded.

"What is the date?" He asked.

"It's the seventh. You died on the fifth. You were sleeping for a long t-"

No. Way!

L interrupted whatever I was going to say with a sweet kiss on my lips. L kissed me? L knew how to kiss? I felt heat rise into my cheeks. He was kissing my lips over and over again, wanting a response. He was slow and kind of shy. I sat, frozen, for another second. What was I going to do? I'd all ready admitted to myself that I loved him.

Aceline, you brought the kid back to life. You deserve a little reward, love. I closed my eyes and leaned into him, clutching his shirt in my hands. This seemed to encourage him. His tongue grazed my lips. I opened my mouth for him, letting his tongue slide against mine. He tasted sweet as he kissed me. His movements were a little awkward and hesitant. Obviously he'd never snogged before. Then again, neither had I. I think we both went on instinct and what we'd seen others do. We'd get better with time. That was a thought.

I started giggling. I think it was hysteria. L pulled away.

"Aceline, what's wrong?" He looked worried, as if he thought I was losing my mind. Maybe I was.

"You're twenty-five and this is your first kiss. You're such a recluse."

"You're eighteen and this is your first kiss as well." There was a faint color in L's cheeks.

"Lawliet, what are you talking about? I'm seven-" Oh.

L smiled at me. "Happy Birthday, Aceline." His fingers were unconsciously playing with a long strand of my hair. I looked at him with my one visible eye. Then smiled.

The world seemed brighter. L was alive; Watari was hopefully at peace back in England in his family plot. I was eighteen. That was why November 7 was special. It was my birthday. I felt like laughing again.

L rested his head against me for a moment then got up. I sat upright.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?"

"Light is Kira. He grinned at me before I died." L gave me this really cute wide eyed look. His eyes seemed to be smaller than before but maybe that was the lack of a sugar rush and dilated pupils.

"Yes, I know he's Kira. But why are you rummaging around like that?"

"I have to find shoes, Aceline."

"Where do you think you're going?" I crossed my legs and leaned forward.

"I must find a place to continue the investigation in secret."

"L. I notified Wammy's that you were dead. They'll all ready have Near or Mello or someone on the case."

L stopped and looked at me. "How do you know about those two?"

"I've seen them before. They were cute kids. Such great friends. A little competitive albeit, but- HEY!"

L stopped at the door.

"We have something more important to do."

L looked at me with still sleepy eyes. Why was he so tired? He'd just spent over forty-eight hours asleep!

"We have to go to the Shinigami world."

"Aceline, why?"

"Because, Near or Mello may be able to stop Light. But we have to stop the Death Note."

*^*%*^*

Uwaaa! I'm working so hard unya! I'm so proud! Kya! I'm a little shy about the kissing scene but I did warn that this was going to be an LxOC! ^w^ I was determined not to let L die again without at least kissing. Honestly, he's twenty-five! I hope you like~! I'm going to try really hard the next few chapters! It's going to be more fun now since the story is now mine to use as I pleas unyano!!


	8. Supporter

We were in trouble.

I hadn't grabbed any shoes, or shampoo. One bag had two of my shirts, one sock(???), a shoelace, a pair of shorts, one panty, five candy wrappers, two plates, three empty boxes of Pocky, and two sheets of temporary tattoos. The second bag held, one of L's shirts that I'd had in my room, a pair of boxers, three forks, a Nintendo DS, and seventeen Plum Candies.

"Aceline," L said, gazing at the stuff that was dumped onto the bed.

"Yeah?" I asked, expecting some shocking reprimand about my lack of cleanliness.

"I didn't know you had cherry covered panties."

I slugged him on the shoulder _hard_. He grunted and held his, hopefully, bruising shoulder.

"Do you have any plastic?"

L gave me a blank stare.

"Credit cards, Lawliet!"

"Oh, no."

I picked up the sheets of temporary tattoos. One was Goth-Punk and the other sheet was Princess-Fluff. Skulls and Butterflies. Great name for a band.

I still had a credit card but I was unsure how much money was left in the bank account. I dialed the phone number on the back and asked.

Good! There was still about twenty thousand yen left. That was enough to buy clothes and more snacks. But where do you buy that stuff? Watari had always done the shopping, what stores did he go to? I looked at the panties on the bed and blushed. I felt embarrassed for poor Watari. He'd had to go into stores and buy me such things, people probably thought he was a pervert…

"I've got some money, do you know where Watari shopped?"

L shook his head.

"Come on then, we'll find a mall. You'll have to go barefoot. Unless you wanna wear my shoes?"

"Can't I stay?"

"Nope."

L sighed. He hated getting his feet dirty. It was the only reason he wore shoes outside.

"That was my favorite pair of sneakers…"

"They were your only pair."

"Are we going? I don't have a mask…"

I rolled my eyes. "L, no one is looking for you…" I grabbed him and pulled him out the door.

*^*%*^*

"All right, first, clothing store…" I looked around. I found a shoe store. Too bad it didn't have clothes in it as well.

"What size do you wear?"

"I don't know."

I gave him a look. "Are you supposed to be a genius?"

"Aceline, I am a genius."

I snorted. "You could have bloody fooled me."

L shrugged. I sighed.

I went on a search. I looked down at his bare feet, I wasn't the only one looking either. His feet were kind of big…

I looked up and grabbed a pair of shoes that looked about right.

They were too small. I grabbed a slightly larger pair. They were too big. It took forever to find the right size! Then, L was kind of picky about his foot wear. Who'd have guessed? They absolutely had to be white but they also had to be comfortable, roomy, snug enough for running, hard enough for kicking, and many other requirements. I ended up sitting down and let him go through the shoes on his own. I felt a little bit bad because he was making a mess. I knew he'd clean it up though, he was sort of a neat freak.

We _finally_ found the right pair of shoes. We bought them and left. I needed more clothes. I dragged L with me. I didn't want to let my eyes off of him.

"Aceline, are you sure you want me here?"

"The only time you leave my sight is when I go into a dressing room!" I gave a playful scowl and resumed my search of the clothes racks.

"That one is nice." L was pointing at a _very_ revealing shirt. The back had all kinds of complicated strings and ties and it looked as if it would show my midriff. I know, I wear fairly revealing clothes anyway, but that shirt showed more skin than a bikini did!

I smacked L's arm, "I never knew how lascivious you were!" The shirt was kind of cute though.

L shrugged and gave me a small, sleepy, smile. "You wear revealing clothes anyway."

Mind reader! "That's only because Tokyo is hot and you _always_ keep the thermostat to high. Are you really that cold?"

"It's part of the reason."

I sifted through a pile of tank tops. There was a white one with cherries on it and a really cute pink one with a heart on it. I was definitely getting those. "What's the other reason?" I asked, I wasn't paying full attention, just making conversation.

"To keep you in small clothes."

I stopped and looked at him. Just _looked_ at him. "You really _are_ a pervert!" A couple of people stared. I looked around a little chagrined.

"Well, you can hardly blame me."

"I can blame you all I like." I hissed, "I would have very much liked to have been informed that I was eye candy for you!"

He cocked an eyebrow at the fitting term. "You'd have been angry."

"I _am_ angry." I paid for the two shirts and a pair of shorts. I was _not_ panty shopping with him. Our conversation continued into the candy store nearby.

"I am well aware of that." L looked at me blandly, "But you'd have stopped wearing the small clothes as well."

"I don't mind you looking at me, L." It didn't feel right to use his true name in public. "I would just have appreciated it if you'd told me what had become of my job description." I rolled my eyes. We were probably going to spend the most money in this store. There were all kinds of sweets! Rock candy, chocolates, chewy candy, sweet truffles, and many other things you wouldn't expect to find in Japan. It actually looked like it was owned by someone French. The only Japanese sweets I could see were plum candies, and assorted flavors of Pocky, which we were also buying.

"You don't mind?" I blushed. The way he'd said it sounded so, _suggestive_.

I looked back, and nearly choked. "My God, L! Can you even see?!" In his arms was a massive pile of sweets. I didn't even know how he'd managed to add to the pile!

"Of course I can see, Aceline. What's wrong?" I just shook my head. It appeared L had hidden talents.

I was right, we did spend most of the money at the candy store.

By the time we were done shopping it was dark outside and all the stores were nearly closed. Time to go back.

*^*%*^*

"Are you sure you're cold or are you just hoping I'll strip off more layers?" I asked sarcastically. L had refused to let me turn on the AC even though it was probably nearly forty degrees Celsius.

"Both." Blunt.

I shook my head and flopped onto the bed. I was exhausted. I knew we needed to get to the Shinigami world but I was still planning how. I hadn't the smallest clue what the doorway between Earth and the Shinigami world was supposed to look like. I wasn't even sure where it was except for its relative location above the Tokyo Tower. I'd probably have to do more research, see if people went missing around Tokyo Tower or Big Ben even, at least I'd know what to look for. Hopefully.

I felt movement beside me. I opened my eyes and L was slouched over me again.

"Lawliet?"

"Hm?" He was combing his fingers through some of my hair.

"What are you doing?"

"Thinking."

Do I ask? Dare I ask? I'm asking. "About what?"

"Lots of things. What you're thinking about, Yagami Light, the Death Note, the Shinigami, but mostly about kissing you."

Wow… "Are you normally so distracted by minute things?"

L looked a little shocked. "Which one was minute?"

"The ones involving me were hardly important, Lawliet."

"Aceline, I am always thinking about you." He said it as if it were obvious and I should all ready have known.

"Lawliet, what am I to you?" I know I loved him. But I had to know, did he love me? Or was I just a thing? Just his Protector?

"Aceline!" He was so shocked he pulled back. Very un-L-like. "What do you mean?"

"It's a simple question idiot genius." I liked that. That one fit him. L the idiot genius! Yeah, that worked.

"Aceline, I love you. I've loved you since we met. You've always been very precious to me. I think I'm _in_ love with you…" He said the last part as if he'd just figured it out as he said it.

I felt blood rise to my cheeks. He's in love with me? I felt light suddenly. I was dizzy as if I'd fall. I wanted to laugh and cry and jump around. Lawliet loves me! And what a confession too!

I smiled. I wanted to kiss him. "Lawliet, I love you too. I really, really do. You're all I've got."

L blushed. L _blushed_! Fully fledged, super fever, _blushed_! Now I really wanted to laugh.

That laughing feeling left when he scooped me up and started kissing me. He was fast for someone who was sleep deprived. It also seemed as if he had gotten better at kissing.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back. I liked the feeling of his fingers in my hair, of being cradled in his arms. He held me delicately and tightly, like he was afraid of hurting me but more afraid of letting me go, maybe afraid I'd pull away. I was afraid he'd pull away too. I tightened my grip. L pushed his tongue into my mouth. It felt as if he were taking possession. He confirmed that I was his as he tangled our tongues together. I sucked on his a little.

He began to explore my mouth and that felt good too. He tasted sweet and manly and very Lawliet. L gave a small moan into my mouth. It seemed as if he hadn't meant for such a sexy sound to come out. I quite liked it. It gave me a rush to hear L moan, to know I could do that to him. I wanted more. I pushed my own tongue into his mouth and was promptly rewarded with another surprised moan. I explored, doing my own search. I found that certain spots got a better reaction. I wasn't the only one experimenting. Lawliet was doing his own examination. He pulled moans from me as I took them from him. He'd shifted his position so that I was lying on my back now with him over me.

Now this was snogging!

I pulled away a little bit, gasping for cool air. L didn't stop. He was kissing and licking his way along my jaw line up to my ear. He nipped at the lobe and I gasped. I knew my ears were sensitive, but I never thought that that sensitivity could also be pleasurable. I tightened my hold.

"Lawliet," I gasped softly. He moaned.

"Oh, Aceline, I love it when you say my name." He said, his voice was low and kind of husky. Sexy mixture. He nuzzled into my neck and kissed me there a couple times.

His hands were running up and down my arms, my sides. It was as if he were trying to memorize me through his hands. His fingers slid down to my midriff, glancing over the bared flesh. He slid his hands back up and hooked a finger under my tank-top. I pulled back.

"What was that?!" I asked shocked.

L looked chagrined. "I'm sorry. I don't know. Aceline, I'm a man. You just looked so…sexy, I believe would be the right word."

Okay, wow. "I'm aware of that man bit." I muttered. Actually I could feel his _man-bits_ through his pants… Thinking about that made me blush. L blushed a little too, although he was all ready flushed. "Lawliet, are you trying to get me out of my pants?" Okay, shorts.

L sighed and lay down on top of me, resting his head on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Aceline. I don't know what I'm doing."

I stroked his hair, ew it was greasy. When was his last shower? I kissed him on the lips. "First, you are going to take a shower. I hate to ruin the mood and all but I don't think I can go that far quite yet anyway. And you really need a shower. Then, you are going to come back and help me figure out how to get to the Shinigami world, without distracting me."

"I distracted you?" He seemed pleased.

I pushed at him, although I didn't want to… "The hotel showers are quite nice, they have little shampoos."

He took the hint but he was smiling. He kissed me once and then shuffled his way to the bathroom. I was a little surprised to see his back curved again. I was more surprised that it had the ability to straighten out.

My heart was still racing. I had other things to worry about and I was still thinking about L's lips, his hands, his- Stop it! I chastised myself.

I needed to worry about Death Gods and Death Notes and Death Worlds not Lawliet's body!

I sat up. Thankfully I had salvaged my laptop out of the trash heap that was still back at our former headquarters. I started it up and hacked into a nearby Wi-Fi connection. I was looking for, I don't know, strange goings-on around Big Ben, Tokyo Tower, Empire State Building, or any other heavily populated land mark. Maybe lots of deaths? Then I could try to take energy and temperature readings by hacking into one of the satellites going over and see if there are any similarities.

I stretched and yawned just as L came out of the bath room.

"Are you tired, Aceline?" He asked, leaving the towel draped childishly over his head. He had changed into different clothes. But, the only way I could tell that was because the shirt he'd been wearing earlier had had a candy stain on the lower right corner. I think he was wearing the same pants though.

"Not really." I lied.

L just looked at me for a bit. Uh-oh. I tried not to, I really did, but I yawned again.

"Aceline, you are tired."

"You're always tired." I argued.

"No I'm not. My body is usually tired but I always have a sugar rush so I am able to stay awake for weeks at a time without yawning or feeling tired." Oh-kay…

"Should you really live like that?" I rolled my eyes and went back to my research. There were a lot more deaths than I had expected but almost none of them were cardiac arrest. Oh wait! The Death Note could kill in other ways too right? Then, oh crap! I groaned. There were way too many deaths in way too many varieties.

"What are you doing?" L leaned over my shoulder, his hair was still dripping wet!

"Hey! You're dripping water on my laptop!" I set said laptop aside and took his towel covered head between my hands. I began to rub the water out of his hair. At least he'd gotten all of the soap out. "Honestly you, you're twenty-five and you still cannot dry your hair."

"It doesn't matter." I rolled my eyes. I finished drying his hair and snapped him with the towel before throwing it into a corner.

"Whatever," I turned back to my laptop. There was water on it! I glanced over at the towel I'd thrown. Too far. I took a pillow from behind me and dabbed the water off with that. There, all better. You poor baby, did you get wet? Yes, it's okay now…

"What are you doing?" L asked again.

"Trying to," I yawned, "pinpoint the location of the portals to the Shinigami World."

"Here, let me."

"No, it's okay, really." I blinked fast. I didn't want to blink! I'd probably never open my eyes again!

"Aceline, you're about to fall asleep anyway. Just give me your laptop and I'll do the research. I'm not going to sleep."

I nodded and gave him the laptop. He had a very good point. And I was tired.

"M'kay," I scooted over and gave him room to crouch on the bed. He sat cross-legged like I normally do and then he leaned over the laptop and began clicking keys. Huh, that was interesting. He was getting more information than I could on public sites. Tricky.

I stood up and went to one of the shopping bags. I was not sleeping in my clothes! Plus, I'd bought a really cute nightie! It was spaghetti strapped with shortie shorts. The cloth was printed in teeny-tiny apples all over. I moved toward the bathroom and nearly fell. Shoot, I really was tired. The floor was sort of blurring with the furniture. Was this what it was like to be drugged.

"Just sleep in your clothes, Aceline." I turned and L was looking at me.

"No," I wanted to say 'no' but I think it came out as 'nuh'. I shook my head.

"I won't look then." He made a big show of turning around and hiding his eyes. I turned around too and stripped off the smog covered clothes to replace them with the clean, comfy nightie.

I crawled under the covers. I laid one hand on L's foot like I normally did before the Kira case started and we had to be separated. I always slept like that so that if anyone came in or L moved I would feel it. Of course, he moved without intruders but I always woke up anyway. It was how I was used to sleeping.

"Aceline," L said.

"Hm?" I murmured sleepily.

"It's fine if you move closer."

I opened my eyes sleepily and looked up at him.

Okay. I thought I said it aloud but maybe not. I shifted closer and cuddled my head onto his lap. I fell asleep like that.

*^*%*^*

"Aceline, wake up."

I was up immediately even though the voice was gentle. I was still a little groggy. That is, until Lawliet said…

"I found the portal over Tokyo Tower."

*^*%*^*

Ah ha! It's so late at night nya nya! Or early in the morning? Your author is very bad! In any case chapter eight is finally done! It's over 3,000 words how cool! That's the most yet! Thanks for reading this far! Our journey is almost at its end! Oyasuminasi unyan! =(u.u)=


	9. Angel

"You have exact coordinates?" Aceline gaped up at L.

L nodded and shoved another marshmallow into his mouth. "Yes."

Aceline shot out of the bed and dove to the shopping bags. "Great! We have to go, what time is it?"

Aceline grabbed a clean skirt and spaghetti strap top. She stood up with it.

"It's two twenty-nine in the morning, Aceline. You should go back to sleep actually."

"Two?" Aceline looked at the clock. "Damn, you're right. It's locked up right about now isn't it? Hm. What are the coordinates?"

L told her the coordinates he had gathered (an: I was too lazy to find coordinates! ^^) and showed her the data. It was impressive seeing as he'd only been at it for a couple of hours.

"Lawliet, you never cease to amaze me."

It was very impressive all the data he'd gathered the last couple hours. Of course, I should be thinking of my plan on how to get the Shinigami to stop letting Death Notes into Earth. How am I supposed to devise a plan when my thoughts were focused on L's lips, the way the tasted, how they fe- STOP!!

"Aceline?"

Huh? Oh. "S-Sorry I zoned out. This is amazing data. We'll have to figure out a way to get into the Shinigami world. Also, I have no idea what the portal is like. The Shinigami have wings so it's likely that they fly."

"I wonder if we could get the heli through the portal."

"Can you drive a helicopter, Lawliet?"

"No, I thought you could."

"I can't even drive a car."

"Oh."

I rolled my eyes. Then it clicked. "We have to find Ryuk."

"Who is Ryuk?"

"Ryuk is another Shinigami. I know how we can find him."

*^*%*^*

It was surprisingly easy to break back in to L's building. Seeing as I had L and he had had the place built it didn't take a lot of effort. L had purposely made ways to get in and out of the building. If I had been on my own I would never have found them.

For instance, there was a panel at a blind spot at the back of the building; if you pressed it you entered a sort of freezer. The freezer was full of ice cream… At the top of the freezer was the cooling vent, beside that cooling vent was a very small trigger. When the trigger was set off a wall of the freezer slid open. The wall only stayed completely open for ten seconds. After that we were in a hallway devoid of cameras that ran directly along all the other hallways and around the outside of the rooms. Nothing was marked. We were outside the observation room.

I had brought not only fresh apples but a great deal of apple flavored items; apple fritters, apple cobbler, apple cake, apple pie, apple bread, apple juice, apple jelly, apple margarine, apple preservatives, apple suckers, apple gum, apple candy, apple marshmallows, and applesauce. It was all being carried in a ridiculous sized bag. There was a small hatch at the bottom, unnoticeable almost. I had no clue what purpose this had but I smeared a bit of apple sauce at the bottom. I peeked under and saw Ryuk's feet twenty meters away. How well did Shinigami hear?

"Ryuk," I called so softly I could barely hear it. The Shinigami turned, Light took no notice, as if he couldn't see him. "Look down!"

Ryuk saw me and apparently smelled the apple sauce. L closed the hatch and hid around the corner as I'd told him to. Not long after Ryuk came through the wall.

"If it isn't, Aceline," He cackled.

"Long time no see, Ryuk."

"What is it you want?"

"Information."

Ryuk threw back his head and laughed.

"I have interesting items in return for whatever truths you tell me."

"Eh? And what would that be?"

"Well, I'm assuming that someday you'll have to return to the Shinigami Realm."

"Yes," He said around his ever present grin.

"I have something you can take with you." I opened the bag. Ryuk peered inside. When he grabbed for it I pulled it back. "Everything in here is apple flavored. There are many items that won't spoil so you can take them back to the Shinigami Realm."

Ryuk chuckled, "What do you want for them?"

I pulled out an enticing looking apple. "I want to go to the Shinigami Realm."

Ryuk guffawed. I was glad the walls were sound proof otherwise I fear anyone could have heard him. I knew L was listening to the conversation. I'd had him touch the paper I had so he could.

"Why are you laughing like that?" I demanded.

"You want to go to the Realm of Shinigami?"

"Is there anything that says a human cannot enter the Realm?"

Ryuk thought for a while. "No, not that I know of."

"Then my answer is yes. I want to go to the Shinigami World."

"Why?"

"That's my business. Tell me how I can get there. If you do the entire bag is yours." I shook the bag a little for emphasis.

Ryuk laughed, "Fine, I will tell you how to get to the Shinigami's Realm.

"First, you would need to find the portal's exact whereabouts. After that, you jump in."

"Is that it? Just jump in?"

Ryuk nodded. I handed him the bag. "The portal will take you to the Shinigami world if you jump in to it. But I wonder if you'll have the courage?"

"With all due respect, I'd prefer you didn't doubt my courage. Also, you'll have to stash that somewhere you can get to it before you return."

Ryuk just laughed and left. With the bag. How the hell did he manage that?

"Do you trust him?"

I turned to look at L's sleepy eyes. "Yes,"

"Why?"

"He is not on anyone's side. He will tell the truth, lies do not benefit him. That is why I trust what he says."

L looked thoughtful for a moment. "All right, let's go, Aceline."

"Not so fast."

L looked at me.

"We're going to get my stuff."

*^*%*^*

We arrived at a new hotel. I had called the bank in England and had some money transferred onto the debt card I had. L and I were carrying bags. Both bags had things like clothes, my favorite stuffed animals, my few accessories, and my fewer mementoes. We'd also gotten L's sneakers.

I was going through my things and figuring out what we would need to bargain with the Shinigami. I was pondering what things to give them when L came into the room.

"Aceline?"

"Yeah, Lawliet?" I muttered distractedly.

"I don't want you to come."

I looked up at him. "I'm coming anyway. I'm your Protector."

"Aceline, I don't want to force you not to come."

"Lawliet, what are you talking about? You can't-"

"Aceline, I shall order you." He said it in his usual tone but there was something like regret in his eyes. I stopped dead.

"Lawliet," There was only one rule between a Protector and their Letter. If the Protector's Letter gave them an order it was absolute. This was to ensure that the Protector did not get carried away or misconstrue a situation and interfere inappropriately and unnecessarily. The children of Wammy's House who needed Protector's are taught not to misuse this rule and the Protector's were taught ways to understand and obey an absolute order. On their own Protector's must learn how to get around the command if they believe it absolutely necessary. If a Protector went against the direct order they would give up their job as a Protector, they would never see their Letter again. "Are you sure?"

"I don't want to but if I must I will."

"You can't possibly!" L had never given me an order.

"Aceline, promise me you won't come?"

"I won't."

L gave a small sigh. "Aceline Spade, I order you not to come to the Shinigami Realm."

I stood up and looked L in the eye. I bowed low, "I obey, _L_." With that I turned and walked out of the room and out of the hotel. I stood on the street and thought. I went over the exact meaning of every single word in the only command I had ever been given.

I would just have to _go_ to the Shinigami _World_. If I went by this, I wouldn't be going directly against L's command! He ordered me _not to come to the Shinigami Realm_. So I would just _go_ there. I went back into the hotel. I remained cold and subdued even though I was overjoyed that my answer had come so easily. L was on his laptop at the desk, solving cases as Coil I imagined.

He looked over at me as I came in. He looked sorry.

"Welcome back, Aceline." He said quietly around a mouthful of, was that syrup???!

I nodded to him and went into the bathroom to prepare for bed. I stripped and stepped into the shower. I pulled the hair out of the right side of my face before using all of the shampoo in the little bottle to wash my hair. It always took a lot of shampoo since my hair went nearly to my ankles. I toweled off and dressed for bed. It took about forty-five minutes to dry my hair.

When I got out L was standing up in front of his computer.

"Do you want to know why?"

I didn't have to ask 'why what?'

I stood straight and made my face blank. I looked at him with my left eye, examining him.

"It hardly matters."

"I know it matters to you, Aceline."

I frowned and went over to the bed, his eyes never left me. "Okay, L, tell me why." I said as I sat down on the edge.

"Aceline, I don't want you to go to the Shinigami Realm because I don't want you to get killed."

I felt my temper raise a notch.

"When I go I'll be able to find a way to keep the Death Note from taking effect. That is my hope. But I am certain the Shinigami will kill me as soon as I get there."

My temper went up again. I did not hug a creepy Shinigami and endanger my exposure to Light to let L go and get himself killed.

"Aceline, I want to protect you."

And that was it.

"_What?!"_ I exploded. "_You _want to protect _me_? Did I hear you correctly? Is not my reason for being here to protect _you_?! You're going to get _killed_, L! And it won't even be for the sake of _justice_?! Are you trying to say you are going to take the chance of losing your life _again _in order to keep _me_ from getting killed? Do you think so little of my abilities?!"

"Aceline, that's not what I-"

"No! Lawliet, I watched you _die_!!! I saw you stop breathing! I felt you in Death's cold grasp! You are supposed to be alive! You are supposed to stay alive! You are asking me to accept the fact that you have barred me from at least being able to die protecting you! You are asking me to accept the fact that you have stripped me of my only purpose in this world!" I shrieked.

L looked away. What I said was absolutely true. There really wasn't much he could have said to defend himself.

"You're a bastard." I said in English. I shut off the lamp and turned away from him. I frowned at the pillow fibers.

I didn't go to sleep.

*^*%*^*

L left early in the morning. Immediately after that I jumped from the covers and got dressed. I grabbed the bag I had filled with random objects and left the hotel.

I had to get to Tokyo Tower before L. If I didn't I would be 'coming' instead of 'going'. I got on a bus and rode impatiently to my destination. I was pretty sure I could make it to the portal before L. He'd had a small head start but he'd have taken a taxi, and wasn't in a hurry.

I ran into the tower as soon as the bus stopped. I rode the elevator as high as I could but according to L's coordinates the portal was much higher up. I took a flight of employee stairs and eventually resorted to just scaling the building. I looked about and took out my phone, I was almost exactly at the coordinates. I was right next to the Shinigami world.

I heard something over the wind and looked down. L!!!

"Aceline! I ordered you not to come!" L shouted over the wind, he was a few meters below me and coming fast.

"I didn't come! You did!" I shouted at him.

With that, I jumped off Tokyo Tower.

______

Hello hello everyone!!!! It's your wonderful author IceAngel262!!! Thank you sooo much for reading thus far! It took me awhile to figure out how I was going to finish this and most importantly how Aceline is going to stop the Death Note!! I found a site that gave me inspiration!  .com/viewblog?id=29 Thank you to zanpakuto .com!!! This fanfic now has an ending! X3 Until the next chapter!


	10. Friend

I fell. But it felt more like I was being pulled. Or sucked in. Like a black hole. For the first few seconds I was worried I would just fall and die. I was worried that Ryuk had lied. I situated myself into a good falling posture. The sensation was terrifying. I was filled with adrenaline and fear. I made myself go limp and eventually I was spat out of the portal. I landed rough. I rolled and got a few scratches.

The air around me was stale and dusty. The ground was soft, rough, and dry all at once. I looked around me. I was in a desert. A sea of bones and dust and nothingness. Many of the bones were unfamiliar to me. They resembled nothing I'd ever seen. A few of the bones I recognized as human. Apparently I was not the first human to set foot in the Shinigami World.

I heard a noise behind me and a small grunt. I turned around.

"L!" I got up and ran over to him. "What are you doing!? You shouldn't have come!"

"Of course I came, Aceline." He said in a tone that said I shouldn't have thought he wouldn't. "You disobeyed my order!"

"Ack!" I backed up. "I did not! You said I wasn't to _come_ to the Shinigami world. So I _went_ to the Shinigami world. If you wanted me to stay out you should have ordered me not to _enter_ the Shinigami World. Duh." I smiled, pleased with myself.

L scowled, not pleased with me.

"Aceline," He shook his head and sighed, "Did you get hurt?"

"Not too bad. Just a couple of scratches."

"Aceline, we don't know what kind of contaminants are in this world. If you get scratched you might not be immune to the bacteria that enter it and it might get infected and you might die!"

I blinked twice.

"Lawliet, that's a little scary…"

He put his hand out. "Let me see."

I gave him my arm. There were a couple of scratches there and on my leg.

L reached into his pocket and pulled out disinfectant wipes.

"What the hell, L!?" I looked at him. "Why would you have those?"

"In case of scratches."

L rubbed the scrapes on my arm with the wipe. When he was done with my arm he knelt down and started wiping the scratches on my leg with a different wipe. I blushed and clutched the hem of my skirt.

"Don't you dare look up!" I warned. The skirt was short and white. It matched well with the lavender tank top I was wearing, not that I'd paid much attention to what I'd thrown on when I left. I was in a hurry after all.

L looked up and smirked at me.

I slapped him.

"Ouch." L rubbed his face. "One for one."

I looked down at him. "You earned that one you lascivious pervert!"

L looked at me, "A…pervert…"

I nodded. "Let's go, perverted detective."

I turned and started walking, L followed me, smirking. I wanted to slap him again to make him stop.

"Do you have a plan, Aceline?"

"Uh, no. I figured I'd just make things up as I go."

L gave a short laugh. I stopped and looked at him.

I smiled. "It's been awhile since you laughed."

He inhaled a bit sharply. His cheeks colored a bit. "It has been."

"I've missed you." I turned and started walking again.

L was silent for awhile. "You make me worry."

"Huh," I snorted, "You're giving me grey hairs!"

I felt something tug my hair. I looked over and L was holding some of my hair.

"You're right."

I snatched the hair from him. "What?!?!? Where?!" I looked at my hair.

L laughed. It was a very pretty sound. Kinda sexy too… *cough* Bad mind bad! Now is not the time, Aceline. But I couldn't help laughing as well.

"So what are we going to do?" I said, suddenly serious. It was nice to laugh, but we were in the world of Death Gods. There were more important things to think about. Like keeping the Death Note from causing more trouble.

"Hide," He said and dragged me to a pile of dirt and bones.

That was when an Indian walked by. I almost laughed. It was scary but comical. It wasn't, well, it sort of was a real Indian. He had feathers and stuff.

"Follow him," L whispered. His lips brushed my ear, he was so close!!! I blushed and nodded. L and I stalked the Indian. Hiding behind piles of bones or rocks, whatever we could find. Soon enough the Shinigami led us to a group of them. It was strange how few there were. But they were all scary looking. I wanted to close my eyes.

L and I watched for awhile. The Shinigami appeared to be gambling. Nothing much was happening. They mentioned Ryuk a couple times. I also heard Rem's name once. It made me a little sad she was dead. She had seemed nice from surveillance. And she'd only killed L because she was protecting Misa. I didn't like Misa but it was sweet of Rem to feel that way for a human. Ryuk obviously didn't care.

Nothing was happening here. The Indian was moving again so we decided to follow him without discussion. We were in sync. On the same page, there was no need for discussion.

There were death gods who looked like slugs, ones with lots of eyes, there was another that looked like a bug. I was counting on having nightmares. I glanced at L. He'd be fine he didn't sleep. We continued following our Indian. We saw a Death God I decided to name Tex. He had a cow skull looking head.

Then we spotted a throne made of human bones and skulls. Sitting on it was a Death God covered in Jewels. He himself looked like a skeleton.

Then without a thought I walked over and stood in front of him.

"Excuse me." I said politely I smiled and waved at him. I was nervous and scared but I had to do something. I thought about pushing the hair out of my face but decided I liked it there.

After a small pause there was quite a lot of commotion. Things like:

"Humans!"

"Eh? She's speaking to Jastin."

"_How did they get here?"_

"Should we kill them now?"

"She hasn't got a name."

I lifted my head. It was the throne Shinigami who said it. Jastin.

"Excuse me?" I said. "What do you mean I haven't got a name?"

"You have no name." He pointed above my head. I looked up but saw nothing.

I looked at L who had come to stand next to me when I rushed out of our hiding place.

"I'm sorry I don't understand what you mean by that, sir." I said.

Jastin looked at me. "You. Have. No. Name."

He was treating me like an imbecile. "How is that possible?"

"How old were you when you were named?" He demanded.

I ignored the voices around me.

"I was probably four. I have no recollection of having been called anything before that."

Jastin nodded. "A name doesn't set for a human until they are seven hundred and eighty days old. You were named afterwards, so you do not have a name."

This was shattering news to me. I had no name. I was nameless. I had no identity. I felt weak. My knees gave out but something caught me. I looked up. L had his arm around me, he was supporting me.

"Aceline," L said, "Her name is Aceline Spade. That _is_ her name." He looked down at me.

I found strength. L was right. It didn't matter if I had a name. It just meant they couldn't kill me with their death notes right?

"Are you the leader?" I asked, with surprising strength. I was scared, really scared. I was glad I wasn't shaking.

"You cannot see the King of Death." Jastin informed me.

"Why not?"

"You would go insane. He is far to terrifying for humans."

"I'll wear a blind fold. I don't need to look at him. I want to bargain."

The Death God chuckled, all of them did.

"Little girl what have you to bargain with?"

"You have nothing of interest for the King!"

"Why don't we just kill them now?"

Jastin spoke up. He held up a book. "We cannot kill the nameless one. It is against the rules to kill a human without a death note. And the male has all ready been killed by the Death Note. I am curious to know why he stands."

Aceline dug in the bag she'd brought and pulled up the small chunk of eraser. "This."

"An eraser?"

"I got it from Ryuk. It erased Lawliet's name from the Death Note."

"The Death Eraser!!"

L looked at the eraser. I suppose I'd forgotten to tell him how he came to be breathing. Like how I kept forgetting to.

"He gave that too you?" Jastin asked.

"No."

Jastin, well, it looked like he was smiling. Sort of.

"Meadra, do we have anything to cover the eyes of these humans?"

Had I just earned the respect of a Shinigami for tricking a Shinigami?

Some of the Shinigami gasped, some of them didn't care anymore and weren't paying attention any longer.

Meadra brought some strange, dirty, ragged cloth.

"Gook," Jastin demanded.

I recognized the one I'd named Tex. He took the cloth from Meadra and brought it to me. He got behind me and dragged the blindfold over my face. I froze up. It was against the rules to kill a human without the Death Note. Jastin was holding a rule book.

"Wait! Um, uh, Jatin?" I glanced over at L. He took my hand gently. It seemed he was leaving this case to me. "Can- Can I see the rule book?"

Jastin shrugged and handed it to me. I flipped through, scanning the pages. The rules were written in Italian. I could read Italian really well though I had trouble speaking it. I speed read through the rules, reading everyone. I finally found what I needed to stop the Death Note. If there were six Death Notes in the Human World, only the first six would work, any Death Note dropped after that would be just a note book.

"Thank you," I handed the book back. I knew what I needed. Now I just had to get it. I let the Shinigami continue tying the blind-fold.

"I assume your male is coming as well?"

"I'm coming." L said. At the same time I began to correct what the Shinigami had said.

I clutched L's hand tighter. I couldn't see and I was surrounded by monsters. It was every child's nightmare. To know that monsters were there but you couldn't see them. I shuddered and L squeezed my hand.

We didn't have far to walk. Jastin introduced us and apparently left. We were left alone, in front of a monster so terrifying we couldn't even begin to imagine it.

"E-Um," I was seriously freaking out now.

"We came to stop the Death Note." L said beside me. His voice was normal, as if he were completely unafraid.

"Why?" came a haunting voice.

I took a deep breath. "We cannot allow it to be used in the Human world by humans. A Death Note recently found it's way there. I-I believe it changed the person who picked it up. It is evil. It holds a power that should not be allowed in human hands. I believe it is best to leave its powers where it belongs. Here, in the Realm of Death Gods and in their hands."

"Well said," The King chuckled. "How do you intend to keep my note books out of your world? I don't believe you would be able to stop my children from dropping their notes if they pleased."

"With all due respect, sir, I never said I was trying to keep the Death Notes out of our world." I felt L stiffen in surprise beside me.

The King laughed. "What is it you intend to do?"

"I would like you to give me six Death Notes. I intend to flood Earth with them so that any additional notes would be rendered useless in human hands. I would lock the Death Notes up and make sure they were protected from any harm."

"You expect me to give you six Death Notes?" The King asked with disbelief.

"No, but I am begging you to. I will do anything I can in order to get them."

"Would you give me your companion?"

"That is not something I can do, sir. I will not sacrifice another being for something I want."

"That's an interesting thing for a human to say."

"What do you want for the Death Notes?" I asked timidly. I wanted this to be over. I was so ready for this to be over.

"I will give you the Death Notes, if you stay."

"NO!"

The voice wasn't mine.

"I will stay, if you give the six Death Notes to Lawliet and make sure he gets back to Earth safely."

"NO!" It came again.

"It would seem your companion is not happy with this deal."

"He is not the one making this deal."

"Aceline, I cannot allow this. I will stay in her place!"

"Lawliet, stay out of it!" I yelled at him.

The King was chuckling again.

"Lawliet, why would you care if she stays or not?" asked the King of Death.

"Because I am in love with her." L said with warmth and without hesitation. I gasped.

"Why is this relevant?"

"When you love someone you would do anything to protect them. I'm not sure if you could understand the way humans think or feel, but for humans, love is the most important."

"Sir, please ignore him." Please shut up, please shut up, please shut up! If Lawliet continued like this I was going to flake out and scream and hide and completely fail what I'd come to do.

"Humans are so interesting. I can see why Ryuk went to cause trouble."

"Sir, do we have a deal?" I asked. This was getting exasperating.

"Yes."

And then I was being held. Not held, clutched, it felt as though Lawliet didn't intend to let me go.

"Sir, you cannot have, Aceline." Lawliet's voice was low. There was a pitch to it. Was he about to cry?

"You would sacrifice the safety of your world for this one girl?"

"Yes."

I was shaking my head.

"Explain please."

"Sir, my world is always in turmoil. The Death Note is a dangerous and evil thing, yes. But I can stop it. Or the other Children of Wammy's can stop it. Every time. We can find different ways to guard our world from the Death Note. I will not give up Aceline when I have other choices."

"What are your other choices?"

"Wammy's taught us, to change the world. We work for a world of peace. We can achieve this. My choices are simple. And the decision is obvious. I can give you Aceline, or we can both go back and spend our lives and train other generations to find the Death Note and user when it arrives on Earth. It is much harder, but giving you Aceline is impossible for me."

"I don't want her. I have no use for a human." The King of Death laughed. It was a haunting laugh that chilled me to my bones but it sounded genuinely merry as well. All in all, a terrifying thing.

I pulled away from Lawliet's embrace, though I didn't want to. "Then what can I do for the Death Notes?!"

"You can have them."

"J-Just like that?"

"Yes."

"Ho-Uh, I don't mean to say I don't want this sort of thing. But, um, why?"

"I have had many Death Gods die over the millenniums; from sheer laziness or punishment. When they die they leave ]behind their Death Notes. When I create a new Death God a Death Note is created with them, from their own flesh and power. I have many Death Notes. I will give them to you in return for the entertainment you have provided for my children and I today."

"Th-Thank you! Thank you so very much!" I felt the tension leave my body. I nearly couldn't breathe because of my joy. I felt Lawliet squeeze me tightly. It seems he was relieved as well.

*^*%*^*

We were back in our hotel room. The King of Death had not been what I'd expected. He hadn't been like any of the other Death Gods we'd ever met. Sort of a mix of all of them. Somewhat sympathetic, very intelligent, and very curious. We'd probably caught him in a good mood. He had seemed as if he could have swung either way.

I was looking at the Death Notes. We had a white one with black letters and a red one with black letters and then there were four black ones with white letters. They were all written in different languages, English, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, French, and Russian. It was interesting.

Tomorrow Lawliet and I were going back to England. I would take the Death Note to Wammy's House where they would be kept and protected. Probably in a vault and guarded by Roger and whoever took over after him and after him and after him and so on.

Watari had left Wammy's House to me. I transferred complete ownership to Roger. Also, it seemed Near was chosen as Lawliet's successor. We were going to leave the Kira case to him and Mello.

Things felt a little calm. The world was changing around us. Japan was a place of fear. But it's always darkest before dawn right? It would be hard for a couple of years but things were definitely going to get better. Justice will prevail.

I gathered the Death Note's into a stack and put them in the steel combination box Lawliet had bought. After a moment's thought I threw the chunk of Death Eraser in too. I closed it and locked it back up.

"Aceline!" L opened the hotel door and came in. "Are you ready?"

I smiled up at him, "Yeah," I got off the bed and picked up my suitcase. We were going to take a public plane! Neither of us had ever been on a plane with other people.

We had bought first class tickets but not on purpose. Lawliet had thrown a wad of cash on the counter and the lady had just given them to us. We traded with a honeymooning couple for their middle class tickets. We wanted to be around people.

It was an interesting experience. I slept most of the way, leaning against Lawliet.

*^*%*^*

I stretched and hopped up the steps to Wammy's House.

"Hellooooo?!" I called out. Lawliet was at the cottage we'd bought, where I'd told him to stay.

"Aceline!" A few little kids ran up to me and hugged my legs.

"Hello X, hello C." I smiled and pet their heads. "Is Roger in?"

"Yes," C nodded. She was a cute little girl, around seven years old. She had pretty platinum blonde hair and eyes that were so light blue they were almost white.

"He's holed up in his office." X told me, he was twelve. He had black hair that he kept shoulder length and black eyes. He and C were always together. They had been together since before they came to Wammy's House.

"Aceline!" I was glomped by another child. I turned my head.

"Hey, Salvador," Salvador was a protector. He was named Salvador at birth. It was a very appropriate name for a Protector, savior. I pet the fourteen year old on the head. "How is your training?"

"It's easy!" He said haughtily, "But S isn't doing so well. He got sick yesterday."

I smiled, "Then shouldn't you be with him, helping him get better?"

Salvador looked up at me, "I'm giving him a present."

"Okay," I smiled and then waved goodbye. I had to bring the Death Notes to Roger.

I knocked on the giant door.

"Come in," came a grumpy voice.

"Roger," I came in and sat in the chair before his desk.

"Aceline!" He seemed shocked, "I can't believe you're here. A- Are you all right?"

Oh yeah, Lawliet's dead.

I made myself look sad and subdued. "I'm fine. I have something for you." I put the case on the desk. "The contents must never be harmed. They must exist here forever."

Roger opened the case and nearly choked. Old guy was gonna give himself a heart attack!

"A-Aceline, how did you? Are these, uh, real?"

I nodded seriously. "They must be protected. With this many notes any further Death Notes will be useless. This will keep Earth safe."

Roger nodded.

I stood up and left. I saw no one on my way out. I looked back at the place I'd been raised for a short part of my life. At the first home I'd ever had. I smiled, then left.

*^*%*^*

"Aceline," Lawliet came in to the living room. I was reading a pastry cook book.

"Yeah?" I asked, not looking up from the recipe.

Lawliet knelt on the ground before me. I lowered the book and looked at him.

"Lawliet?"

He held his hands up and gave me a little box. He was blushing. My eyes widened as he opened it. There was a dainty ring in the box. Opal surrounded in small stones of onyx inlaid in a golden ring. The band was designed into vines and leaves.

"Aceline," The blush deepened. "Will you marry me, please?"

He took my left hand and put the ring on my ring finger.

I hugged him, "Yes, Lawliet!" He kissed me.

"Hey, where did you learn how to propose?"

"Um, Watari taught me one day. When I was younger."

Wa-Watari……..

"Do you think he-?"

Lawliet looked at me, "I think that is a 92% possibility."

We both laughed.

I was doing what I'd never imagined I'd be doing. I was kissing my fiancé.

I am important, to the most important person in _my_ world. I am his Protector, his lover.

And his friend.

Thank you everyone!!!! I'm so happy! ^^ Thank you for reading this story! It was so much fun to write! This would never have turned out so well if I hadn't had so many readers to encourage me!

Thank you for your support!

Also! I have draw pictures of Aceline. I am currently coloring them on paint. I will post them to my deviantart as soon as I finish. Please keep checking IceAngel262 on deviantart to see if I've posted the pictures yet!

If you want the uncolored pics just pm me and I'll send them to you via e-mail or another website! ^^

Thanks again! Arigato Mina-chan!!!!! =^.^=

-IceAngel262


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